The Darkest Paradise
by kb55592
Summary: A modern day girl finds a book about Ciel Phantomhive that exposes his secrets, and gets herself involved in the chaotic world of Kuroshitsuji characters.
1. Dreadful Introductions

**During the Victorian Era, there lived a boy with a dark past whose life was destined to prematurely slip away…**

" **The boy was named Ciel Phantomhive, son of Vincent and Rachel Phantomhive. When his parents died in a terrible fire, the boy survived; he was kidnapped by members of a cult. As they tormented and abused the boy, he became locked in a state of extreme despair, lacking all faith. This unintentionally summoned a supernatural presence, a demon. The boy was offered the opportunity to kill the men who tortured and humiliated him; he agreed without hesitation. From then on, his life had taken a dark turn."** \- Read the young girl.

The girl is currently in the library and leans against a shelf of non-fiction books. The novel she had in her hands was a massively thick book entitled "Aristocratic Oaths: Broken".

Unfortunately as the story became more interesting, her reality became less distant.

A sweaty, acne-ridden teen boy stands across from the girl.

He scratches the side of his face, nervously.

Once the grotesque wave of B.O shifts her way, she couldn't help but wrinkle her nose. Looking up, she finally sees the boy and her eyebrows naturally raise seeing such an odd looking person.

"...Hi." The boy says.

She holds the book against her chest and nods her head. Strangers interacting with you is troubling enough, but when you're without friends and just want to be left alone, it feels more invasive than usual to be interrupted. The girl takes a deep breath and exhales before stepping aside. Her body was blocking the books nearby, however teen boy is still distressed.

As the girl is about to leave, the teen boy waves his arms wildly. She freezes up.

"Don't go yet! It's important that you know...about that book." He points at her book.

"...yes?"

"..T-that book is very troublesome. I-I wouldn't recommend it!" The boy says, shaking his head.

" _..Mm, the last time I got warned about a naughty book, I caught my daddy in an awkward position_.." The girl thought.

She places a bookmark inside the book. "...What's so bad about this one?

The boy moves closer to the girl and touches her book. His long fingers make her skin shiver.

"Evil moves in any form, and leaves all tainted. That book is the vessel for awful things to come. You've been warned, Jazmine." He whispers.

"...H-How do you know my name?" says Jazmine, hesitantly.

The boy's head swiftly swings back and forth before he tightens his expression and leans in even closer.

"...Your nails."

Jazmine quickly specs her nails and looks back at the boy. She had decorated her nails with letters to spell out her first name. Admittedly, probably not the smartest thing to do if you want to be low profile in public, but what can a little girl do?

"...Take it easy, kid." She says as she walks past the boy, still carrying the book.

* * *

Jazmine Tacinelli- or "Jazz Truman" as she preferred to be called by her nickname, walks the streets of her hometown called "Holiday". After finally reaching a nearby subway station, she flashes her travel pass and bolts for an empty seat on the train.

 _ **Now let me take a moment to properly introduce myself. I am the narrator. Though I normally only do my job speaking of what goes on, from time to time I like to step out of omniscient mode to discuss with you about things I'm unsure of… Such as:**_

 _ **Is Ciel Phantomhive's fate truly sealed?... What if his drive for revenge is lost? Can it be lost?**_

 _ **Does Sebastian have feelings for Ciel? Can he experience love? OR is love only possession in a demon's mind?..What's his favorite color?**_

 _ **And what the heck does a little girl reading a book have to do with Ciel, Sebastian or anything in the world of Kuroshitsuji?!**_ _..._ Alright, that one I actually do have an answer for.

* * *

When Jazz arrives home, she discovers a raccoon lounging on the living room couch, flicking back and forth between a Chinese soap opera and a cooking show...Both are terrible in case you're curious.

The girl alarmed, snatches the remote from the little vermin's paw.

"What..in the name of Zeus.. is going on here?" She says.

The raccoon sits up and smirks at her. "..I'm..watchin'..programs..babe!"

Then he snatches the remote right back.

She glares. "No kidding?"

"Noooope." He says, shaking his head.

"Well I thought I saw a certain talking raccoon named Roger watching TV in plain sight."

"...Yeah..so?"

"You know you're supposed to stay hidden until I get home.."

"...But now that you're here...we can-

Jazz pulls the TV's plug and picks up Roger; she walks into the hallway that lead up to her room.

He sighs. "How do you expect me to stay in there with all those other people there?"

The girl stops in her tracks, and puts the raccoon down. "...What?"

"People. Room. In. Yours." He says slowly.

"Roger, what the heck? Why didn't you tell me that sooner?"

"Well excussssse me! I was in the middle of one of my favorite soaps. Mei Li was just about to confess to Huang Zi about the affair and-

"Would you just tell me who's in there?"

"I don't know. Some fancy lookin fellas." He shrugs his shoulders. "-Say they've been trying to find 'The Chosen One' and only you have the power to defeat the evil wizard Ice King." Roger says dramatically.

The girl heaves the heaviest sigh she's had all day, and it certainly has been a long, unusual one.

"Alright..I made up that last bit, but I'm for real about those fellas. They look like they mean business!"

Roger jumps onto Jazz's shoulder. "But don't you worry, Jazzy! Roger the Raccoon is here to protect you from any foe! Ha, ha, ha!"

Jazz rolls her eyes. This animal guest of hers had too much energy to handle, despite being less than 1 foot tall.

She kneels so her and Roger can peek through the door's keyhole.

"...I only see **one** thing, Roger." She whispers. _"And for all I know, it's probably just my friggin' coat."_

"Hey, I'm not lying! They stormed in here, sniffed around the place like dogs, and started moving stuff! Two-TWO people I swear I saw!"

The girl is about to stand, but the door knob begins to turn; she falls. Roger whimpers, and she covers his mouth while rubbing him gently to calm him. This was only the beginning to a very bad day.


	2. More Disturbing News

When we last spoke, Jazz Truman and her raccoon partner, Roger, were in a pretty sticky situation. I mean not as sticky as the time they got shrunk down to the size of ants and trapped in a beehive, but um..a little close.

Anywho, Roger suspected that a mysterious intruder was in Jazz's bedroom, but just as they were ready to enter, the door opened. In a panic, the two move behind the partially opened door.

A tall man in a black suit and tie peeks out of the bedroom doorway and looks around. His demeanor was distant to say the least, but what made him ultimately a threat was his emotionless face. Being unable to read emotions generally, this left our heroine in an even more vulnerable position as the motives of this strange man were an enigma.

"Hm, what is it?" says an unknown voice.

"Is that..-Is that from your room?" whispers Roger.

Jazz signals him to shush.

The man in the suit pushes up his glasses and lets out a relieved sigh. "...Hm." He says.

The girl tries to peek more at the man, but suddenly he steps out of the doorway, slamming the door shut. Jazz and Roger were left completely visible to him, sprawled on the floor as they were.

She raises her fist. "P-Please don't make me-

"Don't bother. There is no way of avoiding us now." says the man in the suit.

Now getting a better look at the man, Jazz saw that he had neatly combed, black hair, a swanky pair of specs on, and…..a gardening tool?

"-Besides, I won't risk unpaid overtime chasing after you."

"..W-who are you?"

The man aims his pruner gardening tool at Jazz and fires. She braces for impact and shields Roger, but the pruner slows down its pace. It stops just two inches from her face. Inside of the clippers of the pruner rests a business card. Jazz and Roger look at each other, dumbfounded.

"Hey, uh, what's it say?" Roger whispers.

She takes out the card and it reads, " **William T. Spears, Level A Reaper- Never a soul left to wander, or be taken"**.

Jazz looks up at the man. "You're a reaper?..Like the Grim Reaper?"

William pushes up his glasses and retracts his pruner before helping her off the floor.

"Hmph, if you want to think of it that way, yes. I am _a_ grim reaper. I and many other reapers collect the souls of deceased individuals."

"..Well, I get that, but I'm not exactly dead yet so...-" Jazz rambles.

"So?" William asks.

"So, are you at the right place? There's a ninety-year-old lady down the hall...Maybe you meant to check on her instead?"

The reaper lets out a frustrated groan and kneels down the Jazz.

"Child, we don't time for this. My partner and I were sent by our boss to find you and deliver you to headquarters safely or-

Before William could get into his reasoning, a loud explosion followed by a crashing noise startles them.

William stands up and turns toward the bedroom. "Grell, quit playing around and get out here."

Suddenly, the door opens and another grown man appears before Jazz and Roger. He had long red spiky hair, green eyes, and the mouth of a shark! The gentleman was practically breaking the realm of reality and fantasy with his face.

"Aw, but she has soooo many fun trinkets! And they ALL have little skulls on them-

"Shut up. We need to get her out of here." He looks down the hallway. "They're not far from us now."

"...Please, wait a second." Jazz looks behind herself. "Who's not far from here?"

"Explanations will have to wait. You need to come with us now or else you'll be in serious danger." William says.

"Yeah! So stuff it with all the questions or we might just decide to leave you here..To your doom!" Grell says dastardly as he goes into a hearty chuckle.

Jazz looks at Roger, who just shrugs his shoulders. William extends his hand out to Jazz and pulls her into his arms, carrying her bridal style. Roger clutches onto Jazz's neck.

"Eww, you're actually bringing that vile rodent with you? How unladylike, hmph!" Grell says sticking his tongue out in disgust.

"And what exactly do you know about being ladylike?" William asks.

Grell gasps and gets ready to hit William, but he has already vanished with Jazz and Roger. Grell looks around and stomps his foot down in anger.

"Ooooh, I can't stand you, Willy!..And yet, you've won my heart!" Grell says as he clasps his hands together with a loving look.


	3. Sleuthing

Hello everyone, I am your one and only narrator! Here to tell the tales that your grandfather and your grandfather's father wish they were alive to tell!

A young boy sat in the back of a black Buick looking out the window. He seemed to be anxious, shifting from looking at his phone and back out the window. Outside the confines of the car resided a cafe- a pretty popular one too! Though the boy wasn't interested in the cafe itself, it was about someone inside.

As the boy reached the peak of his anxiety, he heard three taps at window beside him. He moved over to the side and rolled down the window. There, his eyes were met with some unusually colored eyes belonging to a rather tall, pale young man. The boy looked at him with a scowl and cleared his throat.

"Honestly! How long does it take to tail someone?" the boy scolded.

The young man's brows furrowed as he handed the boy an orange envelope. He left temporarily to stand by a nearby parking meter. The boy opened the envelope and looked at its content. A document titled, " _Aristocratic Oaths: Broken_ Sales". The document had a long list of names on it, and next to the names were the number of copies purchased by people. The boy looked through the envelope more, and stuck his head out the car window.

"Oy,...Sebastian!" the boy said.

Sebastian turned towards him, arms crossed.

He looked away, blushing. "What about that other thing?"

"Pardon, my lord?" Sebastian asked.

"Y-you know!...That other one on the list."

Sebastian raised his brow, and then smirked.

"I didn't realize my young master was one for fraternizing."

The boy blushed bright pink and got out of the car quickly. He stormed over to Sebastian.

"You listen here dog, I am the master of this game. I plot, I make a move, and I win. I don't fraternize, I just gain another pawn. Now this is an order. Show me some bloody detailed information on them!" The boy commanded while poking Sebastian in the chest.

Sebastian's smirk remained, but he took out a phone from his back pocket. He proceeded to scroll through the phone and showed the boy a picture of an apartment. He took it and read over the page.

"It's not too far from here, Young Master. Or your..other desired person. Perhaps we can solve two problems at once."

The boy nodded and went back to the backseat of the car. Sebastian got into the front and began driving away from the cafe.

"Good work, Sebastian."

"So Young Master, will we make a trip to their homes now, or..?-

"No, no. I want to execute this without any hiccups. So first-

"Hiccups? From me, Master?"

"Do not interrupt me, dog. First, we will pay a visit to the publishing company for Aristocratic Oaths: Broken, then we'll deal with with the author later." The boy said. He looked down at his phone.

"Hm, and then a visit to that girl?- I'm sorry, your pawn?"

The boy blushed again. "Don't be snide, idiot!" He shouted.

Sebastian continued to drive down the road while the boy looked down at his phone. This boy, or should I say former Earl Ciel Phantomhive had found himself in a difficult situation.

Aristocratic Oaths: Broken you see revealed the truth about Ciel Phantomhive's life as an Earl, the Queen's guard dog, a villain. And for someone to have the knowledge of his faustian contract with Sebastian to his murderous ventures to save Queen Victoria's reputation, and his own demonic transformation was not only rude, but would make it nearly impossible for him and Sebastian to live in peace.


	4. The Chosen One Theory is Stupid but True

**Several hours have past now, and a simple afternoon has become a terrifying evening.**

Jazz and Roger awoke in a white padded room. There is a white chair and table, but no windows or anything else...Not even a door! The girl shifts around and fidgets uncontrollably. Where is the exit?!

 _"Bajeebs! How could I be so stupid? I should have known something was off. I should have known!"_ She pulls at her kinky hair.

While the girl begins feeling up the walls for a doorknob, the racoon simply scratches at his belly. The little guy never had an instantaneous nap like that ever; feeling well rested held him in an odd state of contentment. After a good few seconds of assessing, the situation, he hops onto a nearby table and swings his paws back and forth.

"Heya, you know what this reminds me of?"

Jazz sighs. "..What?"

"That scene in that show about the sponge that gets this fat fish lady locked up and she gets put in this kind of room-and all she can see is his face, right? But the worse part is, she don't know if it's a dream or not!"

"Well this isn't a show, fuzzball."

She paces the room some more. _"And if this is a dream, I need to talk with my therapist."_

The room was pure white, bright with overhead lights beaming down on the two, and was eerily frost like. Compared to Holiday's relative 55 degree Fahrenheit temperature, this room was at least 20 degrees below that. Was this a freezer cell? There was no food, but 2 chairs and a table. People actually interacted in this room?

 _"Where is the air coming from? Assuming the air is escaping through a hole, where would that be?"_

The girl's hair blew southward and the cold chills were brushing against her left cheek. What could this mean?

 _"Ah, I see...the air flow is- relative to me- north west of this position. So the door or exit should be accessible...here!"_

Jazz starts swatting the walls to her left and suddenly part of the wall slides away, creating a doorway.

William appears before the young girl, and his incredible height instantly dredged up feelings of vulnerability again.

"Let's go." He says before walking down the hall.

Jazz waits for Roger to climb onto her shoulder and she hurries after William to yank his arm back.

He slowly turns around. "What is it now?"

"Just hold on a minute! Could you just please explain to me-

"You will get your answers soon enough, child. Be quiet and follow me." William takes his arm back. "Now."

Roger and Jazz are confused.

"They just snatch up people like this?" Roger whispers.

"-And expect them to sit pretty with everything?" She whispers. " _These supernaturals think they can get away with everything."_

William continues to lead her down this oddly long hallway.

After about 5 minutes of senseless walking, the two finally reach a door labeled "Personnel Division". The stoic reaper takes out a small card and the door scans it. **BEEP!**..and the door slides open.

In the room is an older man with glasses sitting behind a desk. He is busy looking over different stacks of papers. There are no chairs for people to sit down so Jazz stands in front of the desk, awkwardly shifting her feet around.

William clears his throat. "Here she is Director."

The Director looks up from his mess of paperwork, finally noticing the girl. He gets up from his desk and leans over to get a closer look.

 _"The human children are getting more and more stranger looking, I swear."_ The Director thought.

She starts moving backwards, creeped out, but William pushes her back up.

"My apologies. It's only that I expected you to be older…Are you the real Jazmine Tacinelli?" The Director asks.

Jazz looks around, carefully. _"What is this and why does he know my name?"_

William pushes up his glasses and turns to the Director.

"Sir, I assure you that this is the child. Her records, address, and likeness are a match. And while I know I may not be permitted to ask, why exactly was I assigned to retrieve this child?"

The Director sits back down, and pulls out a file from the mess.

"Okay, I'm not going to delay the details of this issue any longer because this must be addressed before the balance of humanity is entirely lost."

The Director opens up the file.

"You, Jazmine, have become one of the many targets on some demons' black list, and that is not in the best interest of the Grim Reapers Dispatch."

The Director hands William the file. It shows a picture of Jazz's face and lists her abilities, personality, but most importantly her contributions to humanity.

 **Now as the narrator, you all know as well as I do that it is important to explain things so everyone can be informed about what is going on in the story...and I don't mean to leave you all left in the lurch, but I won't go into detail about everything the file reads. That would absolutely ruin aspects of the story.**

 _"A lot of people want me dead. When you've got an annoying job like mine, supernaturals coming after you is nothing new."_ She thought.

"...I'm sure you guys didn't need to waste your time chasing after one kid because of 'humanity'. What's the bigger problem here?" She asks.

The Director pinches the bridge of his nose. "It's hard to simply summarize what's going on, young one."

"Well...humor me." She says.

"..Ordinarily, reapers aren't allowed to interfere in the lives of humans until their death, but you are one of the few individuals left in the world that are important for the survival of many others. That alone makes your existence worth preserving for us." The Director says.

"Okay, Thanks for your concern, guys..reaper..people, but I don't know if I could help that much. I'm-

The Director looks for another file in the pile of paperwork, and stands up.

"Yes, yes, I get that you're just a child, but this is a desperate situation and any help counts. I mean, I had to call William, a reaper from Britain's Reaper division." He says. "We're running short of people to help in this...issue. So what we in this department are asking from you is your full cooperation and aid."

The Director finds the other file and opens it up, showing it to both Jazz and William.

"...Please be specific." She asks. _"I have a lot of stuff to do already to 'fix the balance in humanity', so what is the specific situation going on here?"_

"The bottom line is, the balance of souls being reaped is in peril. If these two demonic creatures aren't stopped, and come after you..We may lose complete control." The Director says.

She sighs. _"I swear this 'Chosen One' schtick is getting really out of hand now. Out of 7 billion people on this planet, I had to be one they stuck with this?"_

The girl impatiently grabs the file and looks at the documents. William leans over and looks as well, then he suddenly heaves a groan. The file shows a picture of a dark haired boy with an odd tint of blue in his hair. He has an eye patch on his right eye, and one big, blue eye.

She gasps. _"Holy Cheese, that's him. He's the one from the book.."_

"...So that's what he looks like? I figured he'd be a little more intimidating." She mumbles.

"Well, don't be deceived by that child's appearance. He's quite a vengeful little brat." The Director says as he pounds his fists on the desk.

"Hm, so I've read so far..Wait, isn't he supposed to be dead?"

"If only.-" William begins.

"If only these blasted demons would stop meddling into human affairs we wouldn't have this-this nonsense happening at all!" The Director shouts.

"But I thought demons just eat people's souls. They can't turn humans into their kind."

Jazz looks back down at the case file and reads for more information.

"We used to think that too, but recently these demons have started killing those who are not on the list to die. This has brought about many problems since we already have our hands full with regular beasts who disrupt the natural order; we're also unsure of what sporadically caused this. We've let other important beings like yourself get killed by these monsters, and it needs to be stopped...or in this case, prevented." The Director says.

"..I don't understand what you want from me, Mr. Reapers. If he's already killed a lot of people, what can I do now? "

"It is our understanding that Ciel Phantomhive was turned into a demon back in his early teens- around 1888. What we need from you is to go there and stop this transformation from happening. You are the only person still alive at this point that we can trust to accomplish this task."

"But-"

"There are no 'buts' about it. If you do nothing, you and everyone you around you will suffer at the hands of these beasts." The Director says.

Jazz crosses her arms. "...Alright." _"I guess not doing this would make Osiris even madder, and what do I have to lose at this point?"_

"How do you expect me to get to the year 1888?" She asks.

"I'm sure an adventurous person like yourself has resources she can rely on." The Director says.

Jazz looks at Roger then scratches her face.

 _"The lab?"_ She dreaded the thought.


	5. Friends For Thought

**A small townhouse in downtown West Holiday was home to a brilliant, but stubborn boy genius. Despite what I'd prefer to call him ("Doofus") I suppose to avoid confusion we'll refer to him as "Ronald" or "Ron" Hayashi. He currently was in his attic, dozing off at his desk. However, this wasn't just some ordinary attic. It was in fact his labora-**

"Ron, Ron, quick check this out!" A young girl yells.

He bounces right up, carrying a small trail of drool on him. It seems that having a nice nap undisturbed wasn't in the cards for this boy today because his classmate and new friend decided to give him a surprise visit.

As he got ready to stand up, the girl immediately places her hand on his back forcing him down.

"Look, don't you see? It's happened again!" She shouts.

When the girl slams down the newspaper on the desk, the sweat from her palms smears part of the article.

Ron yawns. "What? They ran outta funnel cakes at the fair today?"

Once again, the boy tries to get up but the girl grabs him by his cheeks and leans into his face.

"This is no time to be catty, Ron! The world's in danger!" She shouts and violently shakes him.

Ron looks at the newspaper once more and attempts to decrypt the smudged lettering.

"Hm, well this is a little unorthodox,...but this is Holiday after all. The city's full of hysteria. The district guards will probably handle it."

"You don't get it! People are disappearing out of nowhere, and the police can't track any leads. At this rate, we'll probably drop off the face of the Earth in seconds!"

"Relax, Shawna. It's not something to worry-

An explosion outside happens and manages to crack the glass window in Ron's attic. The children dash over to the window, looking over the scene outside.

A tall apartment building across the street is on fire and quickly breaking down, segment by segment.

"Quick, pass me the telescope!" He yells.

Shawna hurries to the desk and presses a button underneath. A square compartment reveals itself on top of the desk with a small telescope inside. She grabs it and tosses it to Ron. He twists the telescope, causing it to expand. There is a large monitor on the telescope for video recording and two handles to increase or decrease the zoom of the scope. Ron aims the device at the building. He and Shawna observe the monitor, watching the building crumble.

"Let's see if we can see find the source of the fire here." Ron says.

Shawna takes a deep breath. "Oh I hope whoever was in there got out okay!"

Ron increases the zoom and notices strange blurs that are moving around in the building. Before the camera can focus on the blurs, the building explodes once more. In an instant, the apartment is completely destroyed as it erupts from the inside, taking out the neighboring buildings.

Shawna and Ron fall back from the telescope, trembling.

"...The whole thing just-..." Shawna drops to her knees. "It just...boom.."

"...We should probably get out of here." Ron says.

"What?! No!...I mean yeah, but we-we need to do something!"

"'Do something'? Shawna, we're just kids. We can't do-

"Don't even say that. You and I know we're probably the only people in West Holiday that can help. The mayor won't let East Holiday get involved, so it's up to us and our team."

"Wait, East Holiday? What makes you think this is magic related? It's obviously just some house fire so there's no need for the East Holiday wizards to get involved." He says.

Shawna puts her hand on her hip. "Really? A house fire makes explosions like that?"

"Yes! At worst, it was arson. Let's just let the police investigate it."

"If they can't solve 1800 missing person cases within three months in this town then they darn sure can't figure out the cause of this fire. Now let's get Jazz, go over there, and investigate it ourselves."

Before Ron can say anything, Shawna yanks him by the arm and heads out the attic.


	6. The World According to Grell

Welcome all or welcome some it's time to narrate for some dumb-dumbs! Hehe, I see you all have returned once again to find out how deep the rabbit hole goes..-Oops. Sorry, wrong story. Anyway, instead of focusing on Jazz Truman, I've actually been told to talk about about someone else.

 _ **A certain red-headed someone who finds it funny to re-write the story so he can be the center of attention-**_

"Hey, shut up! For your information I am a lady, and I deserve the screen time! So shut your trap and say good things about moi!" The reaper says.

"..."

"Start talking!"

 _"..But you told me to be quiet."_ I say.

The reaper moans. "Are you a nit? Just start narrating already!" He yells.

With a sigh, I do what I am told... _I don't get paid enough for this job._

While Grell, the Shinigami or "Grim Reaper" walks out of Jazz's apartment he..-I mean she...I mean...whatever..is immediately met with a kick to the face. Grell lands onto the coffee table, breaking it in half. When he comes to, he looks up to find a red eyed, pale skinned, tall, dark haired, handsome, muscular BEAST..or as people who aren't Grell would describe them, a terrifying demon named Sebastian Michaelis.

"My, my, it appears I've found the rodent in her apartment." Sebastian says.

"Ouch." Grell squeaks in pain.

Grell reaches for her Death Scythe- or should I say, her trusty, red chainsaw of despair, kicks off Sebastian, and does a backflip to land on top of Jazz's dad's HD Flatscreen TV.

"Ah, ah, ah! You can't just have your way with a lady right off the bat...You need to be classy, Bassy! Classy~" Grell says as he poses in a coquettish manner.

Sebastian shudders while staring at Grell, and looks over toward the hallway noticing the chainsaw marks on the ground.

"Well, I must say you surely get around for a person with "class". What brings you to this abode?"

"How about a kiss first, handsome?"

The red-headed reaper leaps off the TV toward Sebastian prepared to smooch him, but the sneaky demon steps to the side and Grell lands on the kitchen island counter with a pot on his head. Sebastian grabs a silver spoon and bangs on the pot, causing the poor guy to fall over onto the kitchen floor.

"Now I'll ask again. What are you doing here?" Sebastian asks.

Grell pulls the pot off his head and looks Sebastian up and down with a smile. "Hm, well I could ask you the same thing, Bassy!"

Sebastian gets ready to dump a garbage bin all over Grell, but the Reaper quickly gets on his knees.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you, just PLEASE don't ruin my hair!" He pouts. "I spent all day touching it up!."

The demon puts the trash can down, amused to have his demands met without much fight.

"Well you see, uh ..I'm not actually sure."

"Grell," Sebastian smiles. "-you wouldn't want for me to drop this refrigerator on your head, would you?"

"No, no, no! Honestly! My boss sent Willy and I after some brat here and wouldn't say why..thinking about it, it's actually rather strange. But that's pretty much it, I must say so!"

Sebastian looks back at those chainsaw markings on the floor and grabs Grell by the collar. He pushes him towards the markings.

"Well look there, it seems you left a trail. Mind telling me where it leads?" Sebastian asks.

Grell looks at Sebastian nervously, and rubs the back of his head. "Ha, well do you really need me to show you- it's right there and-

Sebastian gets extremely close to Grell and gives him such adorable, pleading eyes. Yes audience, this is the power of SEXY...and it only seems to work on _some_ people.

Grell has a nosebleed and skips happily along the path of the chainsaw markings with Sebastian following behind. The reaper was pleased to have a short intimate moment with his longed for lover. If he could keep his attention like this, what else would that demon do to get the information he wanted?...Grell hoped for something with spandex.

Inside Jazz's bedroom, it is dark and there are neon glow in the dark stickers in the shape of kittens all over the walls. In fact, the girl has a lot of cat themed items in her room, which makes Sebby- I mean Sebastian blush. This girl has a giant grumpy cat plushie, a pancake cat theme for her bed covers, a cat ballerina alarm clock, and a pink/black Hello Kitty Desk and wardrobe... _Quite disturbing to say the least. But kids will be kids, I suppose._

While Sebastian is marveling at all the cat related things in Jazz's room, the reaper is carefully looking around to make sure all the items he and William sorted through earlier are tucked away and out of sight.

Yes, earlier when Grell and William appeared at Jazz's place, they actually were gathering information about her own research on the-

"What is this?" Sebastian says as he grabs at a sticky note on the wall.

The sticky note has a drawing of a bird on it with a note written underneath saying, "how does it work?" in red marker.

"Um.., must just be a silly child's drawing." Grell says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hm, well you must know something, otherwise..what were you doing in here earlier?" Sebastian says.

"What?! Nothing! We looked for the child, she wasn't here, and left..-

"You mean right now? It seems your partner already beat you to that."

He blushes. "Sebas-chan, you're really overstepping boundaries here. Really now, I can't tell you anything. My boss would have my head if a demon...-"

Sebastian's eyes go dark and his demon aura begins to show.

"Miss Jazmine Tacinelli. What do you know about her, Grell? And please answer me this time, because without my master here, I might just do something..erratic." Sebastian says with a growl.

"Bassy,...I-I cannot. She is just some obsessed brat. We spent the whole morning checking every nook and cranny for information, but she's... " He snaps his fingers. "She must have been the wrong child!"

Sebastian is confused and places the drawing inside his pocket. "The wrong child? And just who were you searching for then? And that doesn't explain why you are still here."

Sebastian moves over to Jazz's desk and looks back at Grell.

"My partner as you are already aware of is a complete tightlaced cretin...but a sexy one~" He smirks. "He went ahead to headquarters to report on our efforts, but I guess I'm still here for the same reasons you are, Bassy."

Sebastian rolls his eyes. "You're curious about her? I find that odd. Even for someone as strange as you."

"It's true, but don't you find it intriguing that a human child has attracted the attention of reapers?"

The demon looks at the desk and notices a thin, grey laptop. He flips it up, turns on the screen and it lights up. On the screen, there is an internet page up that is talking about the origin story of a Phoenix bird. Grell leans in to get a better look at the page. Apparently, William and Grell never noticed the laptop on the desk. Arguably, the laptop and desk are both grey, which the Reapers may not have been able to distinguish from each other given their bad eyesight.

"Eh? I didn't even-

"You actually missed this out of everything else in the room?" Sebastian smirks. "..You may want to upgrade your prescriptions."

Grell glares at him and grabs the laptop. He scans over the information quickly, and checks out other open tabs. Sebastian chuckles.

"I cannot believe I thought this child was important." Sebastian shakes his head. "My Master has poor taste, indeed."

"If you want to talk about oddities, you may want to check over this child's device here. There is a pattern of fairly mundane searches, but there is almost always obsessive searches based on this bloody Phoenix creature."

Grell places the laptop back on the desk and closes the top.

"Whatever reason your little master boy is concerned about this Jazmine girl, it seems she is focused on something else. Mystical anomalies relating to birds?" He says, shrugging her shoulders.

Sebastian crosses his arms. "At least that's one connection to follow up on."

The demon takes one more good look around the room and nods his head. "I suppose that is all I can gather for now. However, if I find out you have led me astray or given me misinformation, prepare to be punished _severely_." Sebastian says as he vanishes.

"...Whew." Grell says as he wipes a bead of sweat from his head.


	7. Never Fear, Nerd Brigade Is Here!

Good day, everyone! It's me, your main squeeze, the Narrator! Before I was forced by a silly redhead to read awkward lines, I was talking about our main protagonist Jazz. Where we left off, Jazz was being told by the Director of the Personnel Division of the Reapers Dispatch that she needed to go back in time to stop Ciel Phantomhive from becoming a demon. Of course to most people, this would seem like a ridiculous task to ask someone to do, but for Jazz...well it still is insane actually. I guess when you're a child, the Chosen One Theory couldn't care less that you might have physical limitations due to age that prevent you from completing the mission...

William T. Spears is walking down the long hallway with Jazz and Roger. He looks down at Roger then looks straight ahead while straightening his glasses.

"...Does he always follow you around like this?"

She looks away, nodding.

"You look unsure." He says.

"...You shouldn't care."

William sighs. "Look, I apologize for the way I acted earlier, but I was unsure if you were some reckless, annoying human or...quite important. It was inappropriate for me to have handled your retrieval this way. Us reapers barely interact with humans to stay in common with them socially."

 _"...The whole introduction back there was weird. There's nothing to be sorry about, though. It's always a mess when I have to get involved."_ She thought.

"-The Director is important for our organization, meaning interactions especially with humans need to be quick, and not to interfere with his schedule. In this case, however, it was necessary to find you." says William.

 _"..Osiris never said having this job would be such a pain...I wish I never found that darn brace-_

"You could at least respond to what I'm saying to you. It could make you feel less uncomfortable." William says.

"..Oh..Well, that's not what's making me uncomfortable." She says.

"Then what is it?"

Jazz points at William, blushing. "Your fly is down."

The stoic reaper is surprised once more and looks to see that his zipper is completely down. He grumbles and zips up his pants.

"...Don't ever tell anyone about this. Ever." He says hiding his face.

Jazz nods, covering her grin.

The two reach an elevator with a cylindrical shape. The doors are made of clear glass and the floor is white marble. William presses a button on the elevator labeled "H" and picks up Jazz bridal style.

"Whoa. I think I can stand up fine on my own, Mr. Spears."

"No you cannot. I've noticed that humans have a tendency to fall unconscious whenever traveling at incredibly high speeds. Why do you think you were sleeping when I brought you here before?"

"Ah. That's called positive acceleration stress. It's when physiological changes in the human body occur due to extreme increase in speed-

The girl immediately passes out, and William looks down. He notices Roger is on his shoe and has passed out as well. The raccoon is causing a puddle of drool on the floor.

"...Mortals." He sighs.

* * *

The next morning, Jazz awoke back in her room with Roger laying across her stomach, fidgeting in his sleep. She jumps out of bed, causing him to fly up into the air. He lands face first back on the bed.

"I see you're up and at em'." Roger says with his face buried into the bed sheets.

The girl looks in the mirror and notices a sticky note stuck to her forehead. She picks it off and reads: "Don't delay, silly child."

 _"...Yeah thanks for the reminder, guy."_

After she crumples up the note and tosses it in the bin, she leaps into her closet and jumps back out wearing new attire. For this long and grueling adventure, she donned on a gray weather resistant jacket, black cargo pants with knee padding, and black military combat boots. On her back, she has her trusty messenger bag and in her hands she has a lollipop. Kids will be kids I guess!

She places the lollipop in the chest pocket of her jacket. "Alrighty, let's go. We've got a job to do."

Roger jumps onto Jazz's shoulder, and she bolts out of her apartment. Then the two adventurers make their way onto a bus to venture out to the lab.

* * *

A couple minutes later, they arrive at the front door of a house.

Roger rings the doorbell. "So uh, they're gonna help us out, right?"

"I'd like to think so. Ronald, Shawna, and I are the better of kid engineers in West Holiday. I'm sure we've made a functional time machine at some point I can borrow..Or we can make one." Jazz says.

The door opens and behind it stands a 6 ft tall robot wearing a cheetah print apron and a hairnet.

... **After 20 seconds of silence...**

"...Oh hello, Aaron." She says, waving.

"Yeah...shut up! I know I look stupid, so get it out of your system already...Monsters." He says.

"...I swear I really think that look will catch on, guy." She says.

...

"..Or not." Roger says.

Aaron plucks the raccoon's nose and walks away. As Roger is yelling in pain, Jazz hurries inside and up the attic. The first thing she sees is a boy with a green hat, comically large glasses, and a lab coat. The boy is looking through a microscope and for whatever reason there are multiple petri dishes full of a black substance around him.

Jazz taps him. "Hello there, Ronald."

Ron turns around and flinches. "Jazz? Where have you been? We've been trying to talk to you since yesterday, but you never answered our calls."

"I'm sorry...I had a sorta strange yesterday."

"As in..? Give us some details, here. We thought you were,..y'know..DEAD."

 _"Dead? I'm currently a big, fat, red target for these two stupid demonic jerks that suddenly appeared around Holiday with no rhyme or reason so yes. I'm definitely dead_ _...but maybe I should clean up that explanation a little."_

"...Well you know, it's the usual...homework and the destruction of humanity."

"...But other than that you're fine, right?" He asks.

She scoffs. "I'm serious. In case your eyes stopped working, there's a parade of people outside losing their minds over buildings combusting."

 _"Not to mention the backlash I'll get when the East Holiday district residents find out they're not safe."_

"Don't remind me about those buildings. Me and Shawna were in here all night trying to investigate these house fires." Ron picks up a petri dish. "All we've been able to gather before the police arrived were these fragments of debri, soot, and soil."

Jazz looks into the microscope. "What exactly are you trying to find?"

"First distinguishing whether it was arson or not..but I've got a feeling that you're gonna say those supernatural friends of yours in East Holiday are the culprits, right?"

"..They are _not_ my friends." _"Anyway, I wouldn't know anymore than you do about what's causing that. For all we know, something bigger than this city's residents is causing it."_

Jazz looks around. "Where's Shawna? Is she here?"

As if on cue, a girl with two buns comes rushing out of a giant incubator holding a purple cube with tongs; the cube has smoke coming from it. She looks up, noticing Jazz and runs over to hug her. The smoke from the cube however, makes Jazz cough.

"Whoops." Shawna places the cube on the desk and puts a cloche over it to contain the smoke. "Sorry about that. Running experiments. You know."

She hugs her again, but Jazz squirms. "I thought you were dead! You had us so worried!"

"Right... Um, do we have a working time machine by chance?" Jazz asks.

"What?!" Shawna shrieks.

"Jazzmania over here is saying that someone other than the East Holiday monsters blew up the buildings." Ron crosses his arms. "What she hasn't told us is why. Or why she needs a time machine."

Jazz rolls her eyes. "Calm your pants, Ronald. It's not like I wouldn't explain."

"I've been contacted by the Department of Grim Reapers to carry out a mission. They told me that chaos has come about from two 'creatures' that are killing off a bunch of citizens. The death count has threatened their organization..and our city so…"

"T-they want you to...what?" Shawna asks.

"They want me to go back in time and prevent one of the demons terrorizing us from becoming..a demon, I guess."

"..."

"You're confused...Well yes, I know it sounds weird but apparently it's the only way to prevent the situation we're in now."

"Why you, though?" Ron asks.

Jazz shrugs her shoulders. _"...Because the world hates little girls named 'Jazmine'."_

"Listen up goggles, me and the missus here need a time traveling do hickey to save the universe!... So you got any of those lying 'round anywhere or not?" Roger asks.

"Um, the one I made last year should still be functional, but there might be bugs." Ron says.

He points toward the back of the attic where a large machine is located.

 _"Thank goodness. I was worried we'd have to use the whole day to make one."_ Jazz thought.

"Yep. The "Era Egress" is always ready for some time travel. EXCEPT to the prehistoric age. D-don't go there. Ever." Ron says.

"Well no worries, I'm heading off to the Victorian Era of London." Jazz says.

"Wait, are you sure want to go alone? You might need some help along the way." Shawna asks.

"If I run into trouble, the best thing you two could do is not come."

"What?! How does that make sense?" Shawna shouts.

"This isn't a three person mission...it's not going to take that much time either. Lastly, I don't think it's the only solution to our problem, so it's important you two are here in the present working on ideas to help the city."

 _"Those reapers hedge their bets on this being the answer, but you never know. Best to be practical."_

"I agree. I still think we should investigate what's going on with these house fires. It might not be related to the 'creatures', Shawna." Ron says.

"Oh you're just being a scaredy cat!" Shawna grabs Jazz's arm. "I'm not letting you go by yourself."

"Toots give it a break. How 'bout we just call you if we need help, huh?" Roger says.

"Time travel doesn't work that way, Roger. Once I've exited this timeline, I don't think I'll be able to communicate with the 'present' Shawna and Ron."

"Why not?" Roger asks.

"...We wouldn't exist yet, duh." Ron says.

"So that's it then? You're just gone and you could never come back? How smart." Shawna says.

Ron pulls out a golden pocket watch from on top of the Era Egress and hands it to Jazz.

"No. This is your way back. It's a portable watch to bring you back to _this_ entrance in _this_ time period." He says.

 _"Good. So I'll fit in fine with this...and I can come back easy."_

"...Oh, oh alright." Shawna backs away, sadly. "But if for one second I think you're in trouble, me and Ron are teleporting right to your rescue!"

Jazz sighs. "...If you must." she waves before entering the Era Egress Time Machine.


	8. Quirky At First Sight

Ciel Phantomhive sat on a red couch in his gigantic living room. His morning attire was a long blue robe with a golden lace on it. _Fancy as ever, and comforting to a prideful snob._ As every morning typically started, Ciel would have a pen in his right hand and a newspaper in the other trying to complete the daily crossword puzzle. He let out a frustrated sigh and bit the butt of the pen...Perhaps the puzzle today made him think too hard.

His loyal servant, Sebastian, came out of the kitchen with a food tray and rang a small bell.

The boy glared at him fiercely. "What have I told you about using that? I am not an animal." He said, putting the newspaper down.

"Right, right. My mistake my lord. I must have confused you for something else."

He gave Sebastian the evil eye again.

The butler as a courtesy moved the food tray in front of him, and Ciel began to eat.

"Today's breakfast is Applejack Hot Cakes cooked in a light peanut oil, served with a side of peppered eggs sunny side up, and five thick slices of bacon. This is apparently a popular dish of Holiday residents. However, I find it to be rather on the unhealthy side of the meal spectrum." Sebastian crossed his arms. "-but of course, why would something trivial like health matter to you now, my lord?"

Sebastian noticed the TV and grabbed the remote. "Would you like the television on, Young Master?"

Ciel nodded. _"No...I'd like to eat in complete silence like a madman."_ He thought.

Sebastian turned on the TV. The show on at the moment seemed to be a cartoon about a talking cheeseburger.

He smirked. "Hm, I'm sure you'll be content with this program. It seems fitting."

The butler walked off, satisfied.

"Oy! Come back here and change this stupid channel!" The boy yelled.

* * *

After an annoying breakfast, Ciel was driven by Sebastian to West Holiday's "Spoiler Warning" bookstore..and yes, I know that is a ridiculous name for a bookstore. Ciel wore summer clothes: a cabana hat, long blue cargo shorts, and a button up white shirt. Initially, he wanted to try his luck at the beach and finally get that tan... _or perhaps he wanted to get stung by a jellyfish, run over by children, and burned. Take your pick._

Inside the bookstore, he lingered around the nonfiction section but ran into a pimply-faced teenage boy with coke bottle glasses. He unfortunately caused the boy to drop his book. Enraged, the teen slowly turned and gave Ciel a good, daunting stare.

"Eh?...I didn't see you there." Ciel said.

"...I'm watching you,...evil pirate kid." The teen boy fired back.

The teen slowly started walking backwards, all the while pointing his finger at Ciel.

 _"Bloody hell! This bloke has lost it..."_

Ciel moved backwards and knocked into someone else. He turned around ready to apologize yet again, but instead of another mental patient, he saw a doe eyed girl with kinky black hair and red lips. She had on strange attire- all grey- as if she were about to attend a funeral.

He blushed, and picked up some of her books while she grabbed the others. The girl now had stack of books slightly blocking her view of him. That didn't matter though, since her eyes were glued to the floor for whatever reason.

"My, you seem to like to read very much..Uh, sorry for disrupting you." He said.

The girl nodded.

"Oh, I see how it is! You only offer to help when it's a chick you bumped!" The other boy yelled.

Even now, he still continued to walk backwards...That is until he fell into a trash can. He began yelling, kicking, and screaming trying to get his butt free from the trash.

"What-What in the heavens is wrong with everyone here?!" Ciel asked loudly.

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "...It's not easy to explain."

He grimaces. "Actually, never mind. I think I can see it."

"...So you noticed the water was purple too?" She mutters.

Ciel is puzzled, but he walked with the girl toward the bookstore's checkout counter.

"Hm, it's nice to meet someone that's not entirely off their nut in this city..You are mentally well, aren't you?" He asked.

He placed part of the girl's stack of books on the counter, and the girl placed her stack down before taking out a card from the strap around her sunhat.

"...If my therapist had a say in this, he might say yes...but I'm starting to believe otherwise with things like that happening." She said, gesturing to the other boy.

"As a resident though, you're quite adjusted wouldn't you say? I'm asking since I'm new to this strange city."

She sighed. "Look kid, there isn't a day that goes by where I'm truly used to anything. I just keep rolling with the punches and 'adjust' to the madness. You and your parents would be smart to stay away from here if that's not you."

 _"What an adventurous thing to say."_ He smiled. "It's sounds almost perfectly fitting for me."

"...Oh well..good. Carpe diem."

The girl continued to avoid eye contact, which worried the boy. He was quick to reel her back into the conversation. He never hesitated with what he wanted.

"What's your name? My name is-" Ciel asked.

The girl was handed a large bag full of her books and looked back at the boy.

"It's 'Jazz'..Um, I gotta go- my father is waiting for me. But thank you for the help, guy." She said, hurrying out the door.

"Wait, do you need help..with that?.." Ciel said but he realized that she was already out the store.

Ciel sighed and went back to the nonfiction section. He noticed the empty shelves from where the girl was earlier. The section mostly featured books about 19th century European history.

He saw a book titled "The Controversial Era: Victoria's Reign" written by Jackson Ferrier.

 _"Hmph. And just what was so 'controversial' as opposed to this rubbish modern era?"_

The empty slot next to that book was labeled "Aristocratic Oaths: Broken", another book written by Jackson Ferrier.

 _"...I'm starting to see a trend here. Interesting."_

The boy promptly exited the bookstore and found his servant, Sebastian, parked nearby.

The normally serious butler decided to read a magazine titled "The Kitten Kollectors"...

As the boy entered the car, the butler could already sense the dismay in his master's mood.

He looked in the rearview mirror at Ciel. "No literature up to your standards today, my lord?"

"..Sebastian I want you bring me information on a man named Jackson Ferrier."

The butler had put down the cat magazine. "Oh so you did find something of interest. May I ask what it is about?"

"Let's just say I'm curious about some opinions this man has published." Ciel said.

Sebastian started the ignition, but Ciel scooted up behind Sebastian.

"Wait." He said.

"Yes, Master my lord?"

"Earlier, did you see a girl come out of the bookstore wearing a dark dress and carrying a bag of books ?" Ciel asked.

"...I don't believe so." Sebastian said.

Ciel sighed and sat back down in his seat.


	9. The Dog Days Are Over

Hey everybody! Here's a little joke I came up with.

How does an alien order pizza?

He sends out an army to destroy the whole planet except Italy….Get it? No?...

Bad joke aside, it is interesting how our expectations can be so easily changed! Such as a joke with a nonexistent punchline or in the case for Jazz and Roger..entering the Era Egress time machine. What they thought would be an efficient enough device to get them to London actually transported them to a creepy village nowhere in sight of the city.

The air was cold..but the sky looked muggy. The ground was damp..but there was no green of grass to be seen! It surely was-

"Unpleasant. A foul one arrives." A female voice says.

Jazz and Roger are on the ground, struggling to look up and see who is talking to them. Roger faintly sees an old woman walking away with a baby carriage.

Roger starts panting. "What issss the deal, Jazzy? I can't even move my tail!"

"Yeahhhh. Mistake number 203-J, time travel devices may cause "Astasis" after usage." Jazz says, trembling.

"A what-a?!" Roger whispers.

"Astasis: The inability to stand or sit up without assistance in the absence of motor weakness or sensory loss. Basically, a disruption of muscle coordination. Symptoms include, tremors, falling, and well..not being able to get up." Jazz says.

"You tellin' me this time machine screws with my body?! Ahhhh!" Roger shouts.

"Shush! If people see you talking, we're going to have to deal with something a lot worse than temporary astasis." Jazz says.

As Jazz and Roger continue to struggle getting up, the sound of footsteps grow closer. They both gasp and try crawling away quickly, but they end up falling flat on their faces.

"...Well this blows." He says, muffled.

Suddenly Jazz is stepped on and sniffed by a large brown dog. Jazz whimpers as its weight presses harshly on her small arms and chest. She tries pushing the dog away, but it starts licking her and sniffs her messenger bag. She manages to lift up her head somewhat and the dog moves to lick her face.

"Mr. Doggy, I can't play with you right now. We're on a life changing quest."

"You know it's weird to talk to animals, right?" Roger asks, still muffled.

Jazz tries turning her head at Roger, glaring. "...Uh-huh."

A man runs over to Jazz, Roger, and the big brown dog. Panicked, he pulls the dog away from the girl.

 _"Ah! Oh no, We're goners!"_

She tries moving away from the man, but he pats at her back.

"Oh my lord, are you alright?" The man asks.

"...Yes...Please, go away."

"B-but you're on the ground and you look injured, little one!" He says.

"...You could just turn around and pretend I'm not here."

He grabs her hand. "I refuse. You shouldn't be alone out here. Someone your age in this condition could be picked up by strangers or animals and no one would know!"

She sighs. "...Okay, fine. I have a little muscle issue right now, but um.., maybe you could give me a lift, please?"

The man obliges and helps Jazz stand up. She looks at Roger and tries bending down to pick him up. The dog gets in her way and she almost loses her balance, but the man helps her stay up.

He turns her around to face him. " I think we should get you to a doctor, little girl."

"...Oh, no I'm fine. It's only temporary...I think."

The dog walks over to Roger and sniffs him. He picks him up by his tail, and Roger fidgets. She looks back at the man with a frown.

"Nonsense. You're a child, and I don't want to see another death. Especially a little girl. Now please let me help you." The man says.

Jazz shakes her head. _"Okay sure, random stranger."_

The man smiles and grabs Jazz's hand, guiding her down the dirt road that leads into a village. Jazz still struggles to walk, but manages to keep her gait steady. The dog follows still carrying Roger in his mouth.

While walking through the village, Jazz and Roger were introduced to some strange sights. There was a tree that held dog collars on each of the branches. Some group of people walking around with practically a gang of peeved off dogs. The girl notices that they give her cold stares and glances. It made her shudder, but during all this sightseeing, the man who was guiding her was asking her questions.. _too many questions_.

"My name's Joseph. What's yours?"

"...It's uh, Jazz."

"Wow, that's an unusual name!" Joseph exclaims.

She looks away. _"I wish he'd be quieter. Those village people might not notice me so easily..."_

"I have a younger sister about your age, you know? Do you have any family at all?"

"...Well I have a big sister...and a dad. I'm not really-

"What?! Well where are they? Should we try to contact them?" He asks.

"I'm fine, really. Let's just get away from all these people. They're creepy." She says.

"Oh that. Sorry about that. Our village is very wary of newcomers..It's just one of those rules of Mr. Barrymore, but I'm hoping they'll understand your situation."

Jazz looks back at Roger, who is still being carried by the dog. _"Looks like we'll need to make an emergency exit."_

Joseph finally reaches a big building with a cross symbol on it, the supposed hospital. Inside, there are some beds and a receptionist table. The room itself looks pretty bleak...almost abandoned. The dog brushes up against her and releases the raccoon. Roger, finally regaining his muscle strength jumps onto Jazz arms.

"I'm going to go check for a nurse. Wait here." Joseph says.

Joseph goes deeper into this "hospital" while Jazz is left with his canine and Roger on her arm.

"You okay, fuzzball?" She asks.

"Dandy! I love being a mangy mutt's personal chew toy." He says as he reveals a river of dog drool on his now, shiny ringtail.

Jazz glances at the dog, and it instantly licks her hand in response.

"Well this _mutt_ saved your hide cause back there I wasn't ready to tie my shoes, let alone carry you."

"Let's get outta this joint, Angel. I'm not feelin' the right vibes from these, uh...let's just call them creatures." Roger says dramatically.

"Exactly, if what that guy says is true we need to disappear fast."

"Where are we anyway, Jazzy? I'm not sure where to 'exit'."

"If I had to guess...the countryside. If we're lucky, London will be at least within 25 to 30 miles within this small community." She says.

"WHAT?! Geez...and we gotta walk all that? I don't think I can work it, babe." He says.

"We have to, or at least I have to."

 _"But first,...I need to correct my approach to this assignment the reapers gave me. I'm thinking something stealthy."_

Jazz notices a clean, white surgeon's mask on a metal medical tray and walks over to grab it.

 _She puts on the surgeon's mask. "Better, but not permanent."_

The mask perfectly covers up her mouth and nose. Then she puts up her hood, covering up her hair.

Roger freaks out at her appearance. "Yeah..real inconsticky, Jazz. Walking 'round like a serial killer."

"In-cu-spic-uous. And I'm just trying to conceal my identity better. Adults cling to little kids like fly on feces."

Roger grimaces. "Great analogy."

 _"At least this way I look sick. It's p_ _erfect to drive people away."_

Jazz walks out of the "Hospital", but is followed by Joseph's dog, and it gets in front of her.

"Oh no, no! You gotta go, Scooby! No free rides." Roger says.

"He's not trying to run away with us, he's just trying to make us stay..probably belongs to that man in there."

"Well screw you, pooch. We're leaving." He says as he points toward the town's exit.

"I don't think so, witch." says an unknown voice.

The residents of the village are surrounding Jazz and Roger. They have pitchforks, and some angry dogs on leashes barking ferociously.

Jazz, Roger, and Joseph's dog cower together.

"Wh-where's Joseph? Joseph?!" Roger calls out.

The people gasps and Jazz covers Roger's mouth.

A portly man with dark brown, spiky hair emerges from the crowd and points to his left. Everyone looks that direction and sees two muscular villagers carrying a young man. The man was Joseph and it seemed the townspeople had given him a few too many beatings since he was knocked completely out. Purple bruises cover his arms, face, and blood drips from his nose. Jazz and Roger are horrified.

"Joseph was a bad dog, and now he's going to be punished...As you will be too, witch."


	10. The Action You Were Waiting For

After being discovered by a rowdy, paranoid town of brutes, Jazz finds herself tied to a wooden pole, and her partner Roger as well as Joseph's dog are chained by the neck to a cobblestone wall. The portly man from earlier leers over her with the crowd of villagers behind him yelling, and chanting.

"Kill the witch! Kill her!" They shout.

The man leans closer to the child's face, and clasps at her jaw.

"If you continue this silence I am going to assume you do not wish to be spared." He says.

The crowd goes silent awaiting her response, but...

... **10 seconds of silence**

He leans in even closer, his breath burning at her cheeks. "Come now. You may speak to me, child. I don't bite."

Jazz headbutts him, making him collapse.

"Ah! Why you..." He picks up a stick, and smacks her in the face with it, leaving a cut.

"Insolent poodle! How dare you assault a man of my power?!"

"Kill her off already!" A woman shouts.

"Yes punish the witch! She's a bad dog!" A man shouts.

The portly man gets ready to strike the girl again, but suddenly a young woman in a roughed up maid outfit emerges from the crowd. She runs over to the portly man, desperately clutching at his arm.

Instinctively he hits her in the face, gritting his teeth. "How dare you interrupt me, Angela! Are you a bad dog too?"

"No, Mayor Barrymore sir! It is the Ghost Hound! The Ghost Hound has come about! I.. I nearly lost my life escaping from it!" She screams with tears streaming down her eyes.

Mayor Barry begins to sweat. "What are you saying, Angela?"

The ground rumbles repeatedly, and all the villagers are scared. Everyone looks toward the direction of the rumble, but only the villagers scatter.

"How could this be happening?" Mayor Barrymore leans into Angela's ear. I thought he was controlled." He whispers.

Angela points at Jazz and leans on the mayor's shoulder.

"I tried to tame him, but it seems…he wants that one."

The Mayor looks back at Jazz and flashes her a grin. He then tosses the stick by her feet and walks toward the village's exit.

"Hehe, it looks to be that the hound has come to play a game of _fetch_ with you, poodle. Let's leave them to it then." He says.

Angela smiles and follows Mayor Barrymore, but she looks back at the girl and gives a playful wink.

 _"...What was that?"_

* * *

 _With the village completely deserted, what was there to be afraid of? Afterall, a ghost couldn't be that dangerous...could it?_

 _ **RRRRRRRrrrrrrr**!_

The ground starts rumbling once more. These rhythmic jolts in the dirt leave frightening bruises and cracks. The impact so strong and so close- The three can't help but hop off the ground from each violent rumble.

From the distant forest emerges a gigantic, white wolf-like creature. It charges at the three full force, first launching high into the air and plunges into the ground near Jazz.

 **WHOOSH!**

The force hurls her high into the air, but she isn't going to lose her composure. _It's what needed to get the job done after all._

She elevates from the binding rope around her body, and takes out a lollipop from her pocket. After a good licking, the candy transforms into a giant hammer with a lollipop swirl for a head.

The beast soars itself into the air after her, with its mouth is opening wide.

It's time to bash in the skull of that over sized mongrel! Jazz dives straight towards the beast's snout and...-

 **SMACK!**

The beast's nose is whacked, and he is knocked deep into the Earth. That crash causes the cobblestone wall to break down and with it broken, Roger and the dog are free from their chains.

"Whoa! That was amazing!...Can you do that again?" He asks.

She twirls her sledgehammer around and looks over at the giant beast.

"He's weakened enough. Let's not waste time-

The giant beast is dizzy and lying on his back, still dazed by the attack. But he gains his strength back, and surprises Jazz with a fire attack...from its mouth!

She darts left, right, down, and up to avoid his flames. Nearing the beast's mouth, she propels her sledgehammer at him, knocking him square in the jaw and effectively shutting his trap. Always the opportunist, Jazz runs up to catch her sledgehammer, but misses!

As it falls into the ditch, she plummets down towards the hole after her hammer, but something gets in the way...-

 **ROAR!**

The beast chases after her, blowing fire behind her. They're not losing this battle to a puny human, and they've got the element of surprise this time! She dashes as best she can, but feels a searing, sizzling, patch of flame on her rear.

 _Stuck near a ditch, and her only weapon is out of reach because of a stubborn beast. Blast it all! How will this end?_

"Ah!" She screams.

She pats at her bottom to stop the burns from singing through her trousers. Unfortunately, her entire bottom becomes lit and she hurtles around frantically.

The beast pounces on Jazz, attempting to swallow her whole. She was too close to the ditch though, and falls right in. Dissatisfied, the beast growls and inspects the hole.

"Jazz!" Roger yells.

 _If you think all this could keep someone down then,...you'd be sane._

 **SURPRISE!**

She judo kicks the beast in their eyes, and it backs out of the hole clawing at his eye. Jazz takes off her choker and latches onto the tail of the beast. As the beast lifts its tail, Jazz is lifted out of the ditch and back onto ground.

The beast growls even louder.

"You know, if you were my dog, you'd be in a pound. But since animal cruelty at this point is alive and well, I'm going to enjoy demolishing you, muzzle mouth." Jazz says.

Flames escape from the nostrils of the beast, his rage erupting. He leaps towards Jazz, and she does a backflip, evading his grasp. When he lands, she jumps high, landing on his back and clobbers mercilessly with her sledgehammer. I mean she batters him in the stomach, on the head, in the back. It truly is a brutal beat down.

The beast whimpers in defeat and falls over completely out of commission. Jazz rests her foot on top of the injured beast's belly. She tries looking at his eyes, but the beast suddenly transforms into a human man. He has long black toenails similar to a dog's! But worse, he's naked!

"Eeee!" She shrieks and jumps off the man's belly.

Roger jumps onto her shoulder.

"What in the world?!" He exclaims.

"I-I can't believe what I'm seeing…" She gags. "Ew..."

"What? You never seen a one eyed snake before?" Roger asks.

"...Gross." She turns away. "You gave it a name.."

Roger chuckles and jumps into her bag. He pulls out a blanket and tosses it over the man beast's privates.

"There. Now will you quit your blushing already? We got stuff to do."

Jazz turns back around to face the man beast. "Okay, maybe we should ask him some questions. It's likely now he'd be intimidated enough to tell me what I want to know."

She walks back over to the man-beast and gets ready to poke at him with her sledgehammer. Roger scuttles over to her and hops up; she catches him with her free hand.

"No, no, no!" We already have one mutt we gotta deal with. We will not add more to this party!" He says.

"..I'm not saying 'let's take him in!', just..let's...We should just get some information out of him."

She puts Roger down, and runs her hand through the man-beast's snow white locks.

 _"What drives a creature like this to attack people. Without an aggressor, it seems random what just happened."_

She plucks at the man beast's nose.

"...Get up." She says.

"Pbbt! Did you see the damage you did on that monster? He's not getting up for another week! Also, have you forgotten...he came to kill us! We should get outta here while we still can!" Roger yells.

The man-beast comes to, and whimpers. He pushes her away as she attempts to grab him, but he continues to get further and further out of her grasp.

"See? He'd rather be alone. So let's skedaddle before those crazies come back!" Roger says.

Jazz shakes her head and turns away. _"Being scared isn't going to help us."_

 **Tip! Tap! Tip!**

She looks back for the man-beast, but he has disappeared.

"What?" Roger asks.

"We need to find Joseph and return this dog..." She says.

Roger looks over at Joseph's dog, eagerly licking itself.

He gags. "Uh, you sure Fido over here can't find his master?"

"That makes more sense. Good idea, Roger. But we need something with Joseph's scent on it." She says.

They walk toward the "hospital" Joseph originally took her to.

...

"Y'know, I was hoping this adventure thing would be a little less- I don't know..terrible? I mean how long do you think it'll take to get this done?" He asks.

She shrugs her shoulders. _"We're not going back until we've fixed it and that's all that matters. Nothing's going to stop me."_


	11. Getting Off Track Actually Gets You On

Where we left off, Jazz defeated an enormous wolf beast only to discover that he was actually a half man, half beast. Then girl and her raccoon partner, Roger, were accompanied by a dog and headed back inside the abandoned "hospital". to search for something with Joseph's scent on it.

The three enter this "hospital" and immediately head towards the back.

"Now remember Roger, we need to be careful not to touch or do anything that would throw off the doggy's nose when sniffing for Joseph." Jazz says.

As she said this, Roger popped out of her bookbag with a bag of nacho cheese chips.

 _ **CRUNCH!**_

Joseph's dog runs behind Jazz and jumps at her back, trying to reach the bag.

She quickly takes it off and pulls the raccoon out. "Roger, what the heck?"

"Hey, I was hungry." He says, dropping crumbs from his mouth.

Joseph's dog starts licking the crumbs off the ground and then bites at the Doritos bag.

"Hey! Those were mine!"

"Well it looks like Little Joe disagrees." She says.

Jazz puts her messenger bag back on.

"...Little Joe?...Really?" He asks.

The dog finishes the chip bag and continues following Jazz.

"It's just a nickname until we find his owner Joseph. Like it?"

"...I have no words or you. "

Jazz sees a door with the label "Howard Pedlar M.D. of Houndsworth Village" and runs over to it.

"Great let's break in! Doctors always got the best furniture!" Roger says reaching for Jazz's lollipop.

"What? No. Joseph might have touched this. Hopefully Little Joe can pick up his scent." She says.

Jazz pats her thighs and motions for Little Joe to come closer. She presses his nose up to the doorknob, and he sniffs it. The two adventurers cross their fingers, desperately hoping the canine would get a good enough whiff to track down Joseph...but alas, the dog simply turns back to Jazz and licks her face.

"Well this blows." Roger says.

They both turn around to head outside, but they are met with the man-beast still in his human form. They tense up and see the crushed bag of chips in his hand. His eyes...they don't look like the rage fueled beast Jazz fought earlier. In fact, they almost look tearful... _Oh dear._

Before Jazz could react, the man beast charges at her; He whines in her face, brushing up against her face. Little Joe growls at the man beast and bites his ear, but the man beast effortlessly pushes him aside.

"W-what..in the name of ZEUS..is going on here?" She asks horrified.

Roger tries getting in between her and the man beast. Like the dog, the raccoon is effortlessly tossed through the office door.

"Aaaaaaeeeeee!" His voice echoes.

Jazz pushes the beast off, and opens the doctor's door to find her raccoon partner.

"Roger?!" She yells.

"Help!"

Jazz was unable to get a good look of the room before she found herself falling down a deep, dark pit. The man beast jumps after her, and Little Joe barks angrily at the hole.

* * *

Quickly descending downward, our heroine finds herself in a treacherous position with only one likely outcome: SPLAT.

Being so flustered she didn't notice the man beast grab her. With her in his arms he releases flames, but rather than burn them, the fire wraps around the two.

 _"Ho-How in the world?!"_ She thought.

He presses the girl's hand against fire, and her eyes begin to glow. _A new energy exists in her suddenly, how will this work?_

The wild blaze around the two appears iridescent: changing from orange to red, then to gold and to white.

This bizarre force brings the two sinking down faster, and they pass Roger. Finally, they meet the end of the pit, however, their shield of fire protects them from the impact of the long fall. The beast stops breathing fire, breaking their shield. the girl's eyes have returned to their normal tint, and the foreign energy leaves her... _for now?_

She touches her face, and checks her hands over again. _"How...it just happened?.."_

The beast licks her face, and her faces cringes. A grown man licking you should never feel natural. Thankfully, Roger manages to break the awkwardness by landing into her bag. She pulls him out and comforts him, but he doesn't look so good.

"Blech! Not so hard..I think my intestines are still shifting!"

"Thank Zeus you're alive..." She turns to the man beast. "And thank you..you strange monster-thing, you."

Jazz puts Roger on her shoulder and attempts to shake the man beast's hand, but the beast licks her hand instead. Immediately after that, he gets on all fours and starts barking, very happy.

Roger grimaces and rubs his stomach. "There's something really off about him, and it's not helping my stomach settle."

"Hey, he helped saved your life. Mine too, actually-

"Let us not forget who started this little problem, hm?" He says.

 _ **Rawrrrr!**_

That beast's thunderous growl causes Roger to jump right back into Jazz's bag.

She rubs her chin and looks up. _"Hm...that was a long way down. Was it the beast that caused this hole?"_

"Okay, okay! Nevermind! He's the most normal guy around!" Roger shouts.

"..Actually, I do have a few questions Mr. Monster Dog..Guy." Jazz says.

The man beast's growling ceases...

"Why were you following us back there?...and do you know about this?" She asks, showing her bracelet.

The man beast jumps up and down excitedly. He proceeds to bark and run on all fours in this….Oh I didn't describe where they all landed yet. My apologies for that mistake but, um….it is very disgusting to describe. The whole room was dreadful. It was partially covered in dirt and the other covered in dog skulls. Not to mention the blood splatters in many areas of the floor. Truly a disturbing scene with only torches lighting the place!

She followed the man beast down a hallway filled with prison cells. From one of the cells there was a big puddle of blood, and it looked fresh...

Jazz runs over to that cell and leans in. _"...What even is this?"_

When the man beast hears Jazz's voice he stops and returns to her. A strong smell emits near the cage, agitating him. A figure emerges from the shadow, and it is revealed to be a deceased corpse...

Jazz slowly backs away from the cell, and falls to the ground. The man beast tries coming near her, but Roger stops him. The young girl had never imagined a trail of blood, or a dead body outside of a fiction. The stench breaches her senses, fracturing her state of mind. How awful, rotten, and cold this air was. Her legs feel like a wobbly chair leg, and her stomach was internally erupting a boiling pot of vomit.

 ** _WHISsh..._**

As the damp breeze around her brushes past her cheek, she stares blankly at the cell...

 _"...This feeling...what could I have done?"_

Roger pats her on the back, but she shoos him away eventually.

"Angel, it's not our fault.-

She just continues to stare at the cell while the puddle of blood starts drifting.

"...Mm." Jazz mutters. _"There's something here that's hurting...why?...I don't even know them."_

The beast looks at her, and then at the cell.…

* * *

Jazz and Roger are standing outside the hospital. The man beast appears from the hospital and begins rubbing against her waist. She pushes him away and looks around the town.

"...What are you thinking, Jazzy?" Roger asks.

She sighs and starts walking towards the town's gates. "We've got to get a move on."

 _"-..It's better if we forget whatever happened here. There's nothing else we can do...right?"_ She thought.

Roger nods. "It'll feel good getting away from this depression joint."

The man beast is upset and bites at Jazz's bag.

She groans. "Let me guess. You want to show me another dead body? Well you should've made it a bird, Mr. Monster Dog..thing."

He licks at her hand, but she shoos him away. She starts walking off and the man beast starts to run after her. Little Joe barks at the man beast and the two engage in a short aggressive growl off, but the dog speeds past him to the girl's side. She glances at him and pets him.

Jazz sighs. "Looks like we're going to have to find you a new owner, little guy."

The man beast is left alone to see Jazz, Roger, and Little Joe walk off into the distance.

* * *

Late at night, we find our protagonists walking along a dirt road. Jazz is carrying a sleeping Roger in her messenger bag, and Little Joe is following them.

 _"...Nothing's going to stop me."_ She looks at her bracelet. _"Not even you."_

Let's hope for a better future for her and her animal friends on their quest to London.


	12. It Really Is a Small World!

**Life in the 19th century was difficult, but especially for nobles. It was necessary for their wealth and reputation to be high and well known.**

 **For example, there was Earl Ciel Phantomhive, a nobleman who held many responsibilities as head of the Funtom company, selling toys and candy. Certainly though, his most important responsibility was maintaining a good appearance to the public- And I'm not only talking about his looks! The worst thing that could happen to a higher class citizen with product to sell was bad a public image and thus Ciel would occasionally do his due diligence by doing things such as carrying on good business, attending balls, and doing charity work.**

Ciel was sitting at his desk in his office at the Phantomhive manor. He was signing off on some documents and his eyes kept gravitating towards a document in particular. _What was the document, you ask?..._

"Tch. How bothersome" He mumbles.

Well the document was actually a cutout from the daily newspaper about a "Paddington Home for Displaced Children" orphanage. The orphanage had been reopened five years ago, but recently they were asking for help with affording things to help better children's living conditions and "raising the children's morale" i.e. toys.

As the Earl found himself staring uncomfortably at the document again...-

 **Knock!**

"Come in already."

Soon Sebastian appeared inside carrying a food tray with a silver cloche. He takes it off, revealing a red velvet cake. The boy, however, is still distracted looking at that orphanage document. The butler brings the cake to Ciel's desk and places a fork on the plate.

"Oh dear, I've entered the room with a delicious sweet and you have not given it a glance yet?" He smirks. "What have you done with my master?"

One stern glare at the butler was enough to send the message. The boy quickly starts digging in. Sebastian finally notices the document Ciel has occupied himself with.

"I also never imagined you to be the contemplative type either, my lord, but it seems this act of charity has got you not quite yourself." Sebastian says.

"-It's not like I'm against donating or anything. I just don't see why I have to go there in person. This place has the most intolerable of conditions!..It's unbelievable." He says with a scowl.

Sebastian leans in close to the young Earl. Such close contact with a man is quite a disturbing moment, his round cheeks steam up.

"A noble is more than just money, and certainly you are more than just that too, my lord?"

Ciel rolls his eyes.

"As a farmer is more than just his produce- he is certainly a man.-A man of life, eager to sprout life back." Sebastian continues on.

"Alright, enough...We'll go visit the home today."

"Very well my lord I've already settled a carriage outside and loaded the toy donations." Sebastian says collecting Ciel's now finished plate.

The boy stands up from his desk.

"What?! You've already set up a carriage just like that? What if I had said no?!"

A loud explosion is heard, interrupting the conversation.

"Ah, well I see I shall take my leave to attend to another one of Bard's messes." Sebastian says.

The butler smiles before carrying the food cart out the room.

Ciel is left with that annoying document and sighs, picking it up.

* * *

So let's talk about England weather right now. Outside it is mostly cloudy, and for the most part, it's pretty mild but definitely a little cold enough to wear a jacket at least. Unfortunately, it was nearing winter, so the temperature was practically 55° Fahrenheit (12° Celsius). With an influx of cold rains already coming, life on the road was not getting any easier for Jazz Truman and her animal pals.

Currently, Jazz, Roger, and Little Joe are walking along the streets of London. Roger is fooling around in Jazz's messenger bag and causing a bit of a ruckus. She does her best to look over her shoulder through weary, crusted eyelids and her raccoon partner suddenly pops out of the book bag, pulling out a golden paintbrush. The brush glimmers like the sun...a little too bright for our exhausted heroine.

"Hey Jazzy, what's this thing?" Roger whispers.

Jazz sees the paintbrush and shields her eyes.

"It's a special brush." She says quietly. "Also, please stop talking to me..really loud..in public..again."

"Well tell me what it does at least and then I'll shut up!" He whispers loudly.

Jazz takes the brush from his paws and walks into a street alley. Roger jumps out of the book bag and onto her shoulder. She sees a black wall and drags the paintbrush over a small area of the wall, painting an image of a mouse. The paint releases a yellow, steamy goo that melts the area of the wall. The now melted area turns hard and golden. Jazz picks up the golden piece and hands the paintbrush back.

"Whoa! So it's like a melting ray thing?" Roger asks.

"...It's more of a "last resort for a getaway" brush with benefits..thing. So with this gold here, we'd probably be able to pawn it off for some lunch...or dinner..or breakfast-" Jazz says as her stomach growls.

 **AHHHHHH!**

Jazz, Roger, and Little Joe look through the hole in the wall and see an old woman fainting.

"Oopsies. Didn't realize someone was in there…" She says.

 _I don't blame Jazz, though._ The building they happened to be vandalizing was a small, gothic style establishment with a dusty old, decrepit sign you could barely read! Not to mention some of its windows were barred up with 2x4s and all the decorations outside -potted plants and such- were dead. There was no clear evidence someone had been caring for this place at all.

The three hurry inside the building, however, they are unable to find a door!

"What the?! How the halibut is anyone supposed to get in there?" Roger says.

Jazz starts judo kicking at the walls, trying by any means to get inside. Roger jumps onto her foot while she's mid kick and shows her the paintbrush. She holds Roger, allowing him to paint around the edges of the wall. Within seconds, the walls melt into gold, and creates an entrance for them to get in. Inside the building, they quickly are introduced to the smell...and oh good gosh is it terrible!..

Roger jumps back into Jazz's bag and zips up the bag from the inside.

 _"Ew, it smells like a cross between an elephant farting and really old deviled eggs!"_ Jazz tugs at her mask. _"Well at least I still have this mask."_

She looks for the old woman who fainted, and notices that the building is quite desolate. The only indication she found that someone lived there was a small, pink bunny with an arm missing; the toy happened to be the one thing in the room not covered in a blanket of dust.

 _"...Looks familiar..."_ She picks it up.

Jazz eventually finds a kitchen area in the house where the older woman lies. She is dressed in a simple, light, dark green dress, obviously not for fancy affairs. Her hair is blonde, but has some streaks of grey and is styled in a bun. She's sprawled out on the floor, mouth agape, and knocked out.

Roger pops out of the bag and peeks at her while Jazz grabs at the old woman's wrist, searching for a pulse.

"Well is this old broad dead or not? Cuz' if she's kicked the bucket, we should consider getting out of here before the cops come!" He says.

The older woman suddenly wakes up, glaring at the girl and swats her hand away.

"Get back you villains!" She shouts.

They back away and Roger hides back in the bag, once again zipping up the bag from inside.

"And just who exactly are you calling old?!" She shouts as she clenches her fists.

Jazz continues backing away.

"Because I will have you know that I have many young admirers who-

The older woman stops mid-sentence and observes Jazz more closely.

She gasps. "Oh, my god! I'm terrible- I'm a terrible host!"

Roger pops out of the book bag to peek at the woman. "Good. She's finally acknowledged how rude it was to make us think she died!"

Jazz plucks at the raccoon's nose and he shouts in pain. The older woman grabs Jazz by the shoulder and immediately shivers, noticing how cold her jacket is.

The woman kneels down to the girl and pats her head. "My goodness, are you alright little one?"

Before Jazz can answer, her stomach growls again loudly...You know like, embarrassingly loud! She grabs at her stomach, trying to stifle the noise, but the woman could hear it a mile away. She cups the girl's cheek, and inspects her face; the heavy bags under her large eyes horribly complemented her cry, pale cheeks, and crusted yellow lashes.

"Aw, you poor thing. Is that why you were out there?" The woman smiles. "Well, thankfully you don't have to break into houses anymore because I have decided to adopt you into our family..informally adopt, I mean of course. My name is Devra Webb and I care deeply for the happiness of children like you."

Jazz backs away from the woman again. _"...This mask is not working at all...darn it."_

Devra pats her on the head, smiling from ear to ear. "Now let me fetch you a meal. I am sure you and your canine companion could do for a little grub." She says as she moves toward the fridge.

Jazz begins walking out the kitchen and Little Joe follows, but Roger jumps onto her head and blocks her view.

"What?" She whispers.

"Are you nuts? This ancient sprite decided to do us a solid and you're gonna walk out just like that?!" He whispers.

"...We need to prevent Ciel Phantomhive from becoming a demon, and staying here isn't going to get that done. Period."

"And just what do you expect to do out on the road?! We just gonna stand 'round on the streets, waiting for him to pass by...and then what?"

Jazz sighs. "...I'm still thinking. It would be effective to keep track of his whereabouts and obtain info on who he interacts with to find the demon that turns him-

"So we'll just go hungry stalking this guy. Lovely plan, Angel. 10/10." He says with a pout.

"Hey, shhh-

"I hope you like eggs and toast! And I also brewed up some green leaf tea for you- hopefully it'll scare away that nasty chill you've got." Devra says cheerfully.

Jazz's stomach growls again for the third time and Roger smirks.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Don't you hate that moment when your mouth says one thing, but your body says the complete opposite? Ha, ha!" He whispers.

Jazz scoffs. _"Alright, alright. I guess a quick meal and a little nap here wouldn't be so bad…."_

Roger hides back in the book bag, but peeks out just a little to see what's going on. Jazz heads over to older woman and sees she is carrying a steamy plate of eggs and toast, also a separate plate of ham.

"Come now with me to the dining hall. The other children should still be eating breakfast, which will make this the perfect opportunity to get you acquainted." She says as she leads the way out the kitchen.

Jazz and Roger look at each other, dumbfounded.

"Other children?" The two whisper.

Everyone heads out of the kitchen and follows Devra into a big, cafeteria with two rows of tables. There are children sitting at both tables, playing, eating, and talking to one another. When Devra enters, they all look at her excitedly and get up from their tables. When they see Jazz and Little Joe though, their eyes immediately turn to the dog. Unable to contain their excitement, the children sprint towards the canine practically ambushing it.

"Now, now children let's calm ourselves before we scare away our new friends." Devra says.

Jazz's eyes are darting all over the room. Overwhelmed, with an empty pit for a stomach, mix in some nausea from the malodorous building, and you have the worst feeling in the world. _What else could be scarier than this feeling?_

Devra bends down to meet Jazz's eye level and puts her arm around her.

"I'd like welcome this young one here into our family. He doesn't seem to talk much, but I want you all to be respectful about it while he's here at the orphanage." She says with a big smile.

Jazz gasps and looks back at Roger again.

 _"Orphanage?!"_


	13. We Have a Doozy of a Coincidence

Devra sets down Jazz's meal on a table and returns to her side.

"I welcome you to the Paddington Home For Displaced Children Orphanage um..wait, I just realized I hadn't caught your name..Hm, now what is your name? Or do you not have one?" She asks.

A boy points at her hands...specifically her nails. Unfortunately after all the fighting and "traveling", Jazz's nail polish had seemed to chip off at certain places or LETTERS I should say. Leaving her nails spelling out **"A, Z, M, I, N"**..Now I know what you all are thinking- That's great! Now her identity can remain hidden, but you haven't yet grasped how terribly the name "Azmin" could be pronounced.

"Ass..men?" The boy says.

After a ten second pause, the children burst out into laughter... _It really wasn't that funny, guys._

Jazz's face heats up before instinctively shoving her hands down her pockets.

 _ **HAHA...**_

 _ **HEHEE...**_

 _ **HOOHEE...**_

 _ **AHAHA...**_

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse,

 **CLAP!**

The children's mouths eerily shut, almost robotic like; their caretaker had one hand raised and delivered a chilling stare.

"I can't believe you all... If this poor boy could speak, he'd probably cry right now at the mean spirited little goblins in front of him now." Devra says.

The children look down.

"At Paddington, we DO NOT encourage bullying or any belittlement of someone's character, for that is the same treatment those on the outside give to us. Now I want you all to apologize to Azmin right this second!" She yells.

The children hesitantly look at Jazz ,some shielding themselves away from her gaze.

"We're sorry Azmin." They mumble.

Our heroine took a look at each child, taking an opportunity to notice some details.

Most of them are in rags. Seven of the girls' dresses were stitched in multiple patches that didn't match. The boy who made fun of her had a bandage on his nose and noticeable dirt around his face...actually, the dirt was caked over bruising from his nose and eyes.

 _"These kids...I forgot. They probably all worked odd jobs before being placed here. I read that the Victorian Era was pretty cruel to little kids like me. Losing fingers in factories, being poisoned from working in chimneys, and hunger."_

Jazz shakes hands with the bandaged boy.

"See? Now that's the kind of behaviour we should reinforce, right?" Devra asks.

Little Joe barks at Devra, startling her a bit.

She chuckles and pets Little Joe. "And isn't this wonderful? He has even brought a little pup with him!"

The canine barks again and the children's eyes became glued to him once again. You truly cannot compete with such an animal's charms.

A girl oddly not distracted by the dog, walks up to Jazz. Her soft grass green eyes contrasted heavily with her much rougher exterior. Her hand-me-down blue dress and red, curly hair were both unwashed it seemed. _What an unfortunate state for this young, unkempt beauty._

Jazz blushes. _"...What does she want?"_

The red headed girl was eyeing our heroine up and down but instead of a welcoming smile, her eyes looked ready to fly out of her skull. The bewilderment!

She frowns and tugs at Devra's dress. "Uh, missus Webb...why is Azmin dressed like a boy?"

Jazz does a double take at her outfit. _"...Oh that's right...I didn't think this outfit through. If I wanted to fit in, my regular dress would have worked fine."_

"Well at least she's warmer than you, Shirley Temple." Roger whispers.

Jazz zips up her bag, forcing Roger back inside.

Devra grins at her. "I beg your pardon...you're a girl?"

Jazz nods.

She pats the girl's head. "My apologies then. I suppose I've been been rude to you as well."

Devra turns to the children. "Let's not be rude anymore. You know I remember I certain group of girls coming here wearing some not so ladylike clothing. Thus as it stands, no one should be in a place to judge, including me."

"Hehe, yes..sorry." The red head girl says.

"Well how about you all finish your breakfast while I give Azmin here a quick orientation to Paddington." Devra says.

The children cheer and run back over to their tables to eat. Devra leads Jazz to a nearby table and reaches for a clipboard. The woman then tosses the ham to Little Joe.

"Alrighty then! So I'm not sure if you're aware, or if you're even local to London, but lately things here at Paddington Orphanage have been...well let us say a wee bit stale." She says.

Devra looks over the paper on her clipboard and skips through pages. While she is distracted, Jazz opens her bag and hands Roger a piece of toast with some egg on it. He tries to to take the whole meal, but she yanks at his ear.

"...We have been in a bit of financial trouble for the last couple of years since its reopening, and I am often times unsure if I am able to fulfill all you children's needs, but today will hopefully change that." Devra says.

She smiles. "Today, a nobleman, Ciel Phantomhive will be visiting us to personally donate his toys and money to the orphanage. I am over joyed, but also terrified at the same time because..well, you see how the other children can be quite,..over-excitable, and..a wee bit rude- I am hoping that will not interfere with the donation..but you never know."

Jazz drops her fork.

Devra notices she has frozen up and touches her hand. "Are you alright, Azmin?" She chuckles. "Do not tell me you are going to be acting a fool too! I'm counting on someone to invoke a little humility for the children."

The girl sighs. _"...But why me?...and how can I carry out my mission in this situation?"_

"..I'm sorry! This is so sudden, but I feel that someone like you could help me- I-I don't why..I suppose you have that impression on me." Devra says as she pats Jazz on the back.

 _"...How convenient you think that, lady. It is part of the job after all."_

"So Azmin, will you help me prepare for Ciel Phantomhive's arrival?" Devra asks.

Jazz reluctantly nods.

Roger peeks out of the bag and leans in to Jazz.

"Wow..we've really got ourselves in a doozy now…" He whispers.


	14. What Do You Know? Hardwork Does Pay Off!

**Devra Webb, owner of the Paddington Home For Displaced Children, was in a predicament.** This 44-year-old woman had spent the last five years of her life trying to keep a run down, barely noticed children's orphanage from going extinct! Now Devra was resourceful when she could be, but being on the poorer side of Victorian society spectrum in England was not winning her any attention or sympathy from the so called "philanthropists" of London. As terrible as things were, no upperclassmen cared about this orphanage, and thus her interest in the safety and proper care of children was virtually disregarded by most wealthy London residents...That is everyone but Earl Ciel Phantomhive.

Jazz is currently being given a tour of the orphanage by Devra.

Almost every room was lacking. The place was full of cracks, spider webs, and even bat guano!..Yes, you heard me- Bat droppings. Not only were there pests, but there wasn't a single sanitary area appropriate for children or people to inhabit. Our heroine was utterly disgusted, but that was only part of the main issue. The real problem stemmed from a lack of furniture. If anyone were to believe that the children here were even minimally content, you would have thought they were bonked on the head a few times too many.

Jazz stopped following Devra once they were in the "playroom" area for children. The girl stood stood by the so called playpen. It was hard not to stop, for once a certain object caught her eyes, her mind and energy were entirely devoted to it. The unusual entranced the strange girl who love to fixate.

 _"...This wood.. it's dull, and it looks to be...red oak wood."_

"And so you see..this room illustrates another problem with the orphanage's resources. We do not have much and-

The woman continues talking as she exits the room, believing Jazz is behind her.

Roger climbs out of Jazz's book bag. "Heya, whatcha' thinking, Jazzy?"

"This wood..it's too fragile material to be building a playpen with, let alone have a kid play in it." She says.

"And your solution is what, Missus Woodchuck?.." He asks.

"Scrap it. Scrap this and everything else nasty and dirty looking. In fact as of right now, it's our job to give Mr. Phantomhive a good impression about this place. Once we do that, we have a chance at making contact."

He chuckles. "What are we now, agents?"

"No...As much as I'd like that, we're more like private investigators. Keeping track of his movements, who he talks to,..stuff like that.

The raccoon groans. "I'd kill to be all Mission Impossible on this kid's butt, but you telling me we gotta spruce up this pigsty? I thought that kid was donating to this joint. Why do we gotta do anything if he's gonna help them anyway?"

"When the Earl sees this, he's going to throw up and leave. We must get him to stay and trust that this place deserves to be funded. Otherwise he won't come back and we'll miss our chance." She says.

"Well let's get this over with..." He says.

The two look around for cleaning supplies and begin sweeping the filthy floors, wiping the crust stained windows, throwing away old, broken items/toys, and repainting areas that needed color.

Jazz convinces the other children to help her paint over the play room with drawings of their favorite things. Though a bit cluttered, the drawings were mostly of toys: trains, colorful balls, dolls, and teddy bears. The windows were finally clean enough to bring in more light thanks the wiping, overall the room looked a little less gloomy, but all the broken toys/objects had been scrapped so the room looked vacant. At least it was at pleasant to stand around.

One major adjustment that needed to be made was fixing the main door to the orphanage. The large hole our heroine created would be difficult to ignore and at worst, jarring to Earl Phantomhive, thus the door needed to be replaced as soon as possible. Jazz and Roger gather spare metal scraps from broken pots and pans in the kitchen. It would be their best efforts for creating hinges...hopefully the metal wouldn't give way before the Earl's arrival.

The second to last room Jazz and Roger were working on was the meal room. It was the largest, filthiest, and furnished room in the entire building, thus this would require all their energy and effort.

Devra, during this remodeling, had been walking throughout each room of the orphanage still delivering her tour, but when she finally came back to the meal room, she froze. With Roger and the other children's help, Jazz had managed to get the entire room cleaned; they rearranged the tables and did their best to decorate the space with some potted flowers they found outside the building. While the boys were in charge of heavy lifting duties, the girls and very younger children were in charge of painting. The girls were in the middle of painting a large bear with a top hat, hugging two children. It was a cute, but quite crude work of art.

"Oh,...Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! This is the most amazing thing I've ever laid eyes on." Devra says as tears run down her cheeks.

Jazz was looking over each area, making sure each child was doing their job.

Her pal Roger looks over her shoulder, with a dry expression. "So what's next on this never ending list, Jazzy?"

She walks over towards one of the tables and looks over the pink rabbit she had recovered when she first arrived. This dull, pint-sized toy rabbit had been abandoned, covered in dust, and missing an eye. Thanks to Jazz, this artificial hare finally looked fit for playing.

"Ah...that ugly thing. What's the deal?" Roger asks.

"...It's the only toy." She says.

And she was right. Despite the entire hour she and the children had spent going through each room, clearing messes, the only thing found resembling a toy happened to be this nasty rabbit.

"I did my best, but on the off chance this doesn't work out, I want them to at least have one thing to play with. So I present to you, Harry the Singer." She says.

The rabbit humorously named, Harry the Singer, immediately stood up on his two pudgy legs.

"Whoa...That thing's alive?" Roger asks.

Jazz pokes at Harry's head. "Yes, but artificially. He's an A.I. robot toy, and sings and dance."

Harry the Singer has been refurbished and refreshed! His once dull pink fur had been replaced with a fluffy texture dyed green; his beady black eyes were replaced with mismatched buttons, one small, one large. His long rabbit ears hung high now, and he had a new outfit: a brown button up vest and red bowtie. If this toy was programmed to smile, his face wouldn't be wide enough to hold it.

Jazz tugs at Harry's bow tie, which triggers his singing tune.

Still stunned, Devra attempts to get the children's attention but they are busy at work and too distracted to pay the old bird any mind. Pity. The woman spots Jazz separated from the crowds of children and heads towards her. The girl was blankly watching a green rabbit awkwardly wobble back and forth and screeching some bizarre melody.

"Egads! What is that?" The woman exclaimed.

Jazz swerves around, startled. _"...So loud!"_

A gloved hand touches Devra's shoulder from behind her. Her eyes are met with a big, blue eye and a pair of dark red eyes. Realizing who the eyes belong to, the woman wipes her face.

She curtsies with and greets the two gentlemen with a warm smile. "Oh goodness me! I deeply apologize Lord Phantomhive sir! I-I.."

"Please, no need for apologies Ms. Webb. Um, may I ask what is going on?" Ciel asks.

Devra can't help but cry again. Ciel looks at Sebastian, who offers the woman a tissue.

 ** _HOORAY!_**

Every child runs over to Harry the Singer, past Devra, Ciel, and Sebastian.

The red-headed girl presents her dress to Devra.

Her once, smoky multiple patched dress had been transformed dramatically. The dress was now white and green, for it complemented her lovely green eyes and fiery red curls. What made it special was a particular pattern of white doves soaring across the beltline and dark green frills around the skirt and arms.

"Miss Devra, miss Devra look! Azmin and I redid my dress so I have little birdies everywhere, hehe!" She shouts as she twirls the dress around.

"And we made the playroom look really nice! I just wish we had more toys.." The little boy says excitedly.

"Yes, like that one over there!" Another boy yells, pointing at Harry the Singer.

"Excuse me...Azmin? She made this..rabbit?" Ciel asks.

"Y-yes! S-she's new to the Paddington Orphanage..and she's a sweet little one." Devra points to Jazz.

The girl's eyes widen. She was now face to face with a person she'd read so much about, but never imagined she'd ever have a chance to meet...considering he should be dead after all. Her face blushes, realizing that all eyes are on her now now. _What's going on in your mind, little professor?_

Roger quickly hides in her messenger bag. "Um, I think we should go over there, Jazzy. That's the kid, right?" He whispers.

"...Yes…" She whispers.

"Well okay..let's go!" He whispers.

"...He's...he's so...short."

Roger shrugs his shoulders. "What do you expect? An athlete body? The kid's build looks like he's never heard of exercise."

The girl swallows the lump developing in her throat and slowly walks over to Devra and the rest with Little Joe following. Ciel is first taken aback by Jazz's appearance. Her surgeon mask's obscured her light, olive face, but those eyes... Fortunately, what offset her uncanny features were small details like her gentle demeanor, thick, long eyelashes and the roundness of her cheeks, legs, and hips.

With her hood up, slightly large trousers, and combat boots, she was just about everything improper for a lady by 19th century England standards. He gazes into her soft eyes...The girl is practically bug eyed, so it's hard to get away from it.

She grimaces and looks away. _"...What's he looking at?"_

"Hm, interesting." Ciel mutters.

"Wh-what is it Earl Phantomhive?" Devra asks.

"I arrived here to donate my kindness to an orphanage I believed was less than savory as far as their presentation, but what I found is that you've already been serviced with someone else's kindness. A child, young and poor as the rest no less. This is quite interesting." He says.

The boy grins at Sebastian, prompting the butler to exit the room.

"Ms. Webb. I would like to donate to you and your orphanage in the hopes that it shall remain a productive, and stimulating place for children to grow." He says while motioning toward the entrance of the orphanage.

Everyone turns where Ciel is motioning and they see Sebastian bring in a great number of boxes of toys through the entrance. All the children cheer once more and run up to Sebastian, grabbing at the boxes. Sebastian hands every child a box, and the boy and girls, giddy with excitement tore them open. They were greeted by some Funtom company toys: plush rabbits and toy model ships.

Sebastian returns to the Earl's side, and hands him a large sack.

"I'd also like to thank you for introducing me to such talented, young workers." He says as he hands the sack of money to Devra.

Ciel looks Jazz up and down then sticks out his hand, lending a charming smile.

"Azmin, is it? Would you like to share your talents with me and the rest of my staff at my manor?"

Devra pats the girl on the back, chuckling. "Hehehe, of course she'd love to! She's an ambitious little one I tell you, and I'm sure she'll do fine at your-

"Sorry, but I'd like to hear from her if you don't mind." He says.

Jazz hesitates extending her hand to Ciel's, but before she can retract it he kisses it.

Her face cringes. _"...Why?.."_

Ciel turns to Sebastian. "Sebastian, ready the carriage for us."

"Yes, my lord." He says as he leaves out the orphanage.

The Earl notices Little Joe, and the dog jumps at him.

He smirks. "Hm, is this your dog?"

She pets the dog and Little Joe wags his tail in response.

Ciel grins again and begins walking out of the orphanage. "Hehe, this truly is interesting."

He waves. "Farewell Ms. Webb, and I hope you and your children enjoy my gifts. Come now Azmin, and bring your pooch."

Jazz begins walking out, but notices Devra crying again.

Naturally, the woman pulls the girl into a deep hug, causing her to squirm.

"...Just thank you..for everything you've done, just thank you." Devra says.

She ends the hug, and runs out after Ciel.

 **And there you are, Jazz and Roger achieved their first goal, but will it get easier to complete the mission?**


	15. Questions and Odd Occurrences

"Heya….what do think of Ol' One Eye?"

"What I think?...Well he's bold...and arrogant, I guess." "At least, that's my first impression."

"And by 'bold' you mean cranky, right?"

"You'd be more than 'cranky' if you went through what he did."

"So what did that pirate boy go through that was so bad, huh? His butler boy got him the wrong dessert? He stubbed his tiny toes on his midget desk?"

"According to the book, Phantomhive lost his parents to a house fire at only ten years old. Then after being kidnapped and tortured for months, he took vengeance on those who wronged him and his family. Apparently he's spent the past two years rebuilding his family's reputation and searching for information on those who initiated the attack on his manor.

"...Great. So we're gonna be helping some looney brat who murders folks for revenge. Just great."

"The only things I'm uncertain of are how he summoned that demon and what exactly is his end goal. I haven't gotten far enough in the book to understand and it's frustrating.

"I get that those demon schmucks are tearing up Holiday, but how could those four eyed suits ask us to help out somebody like this jerk-hole pirate? It's not like we're into these kinda rescue missions.

"...Yeah I don't exactly agree with these things either; I'd rather be at home reading about the Phoenix, or helping someone who I can trust won't go on a killing spree...but all of that doesn't matter."

"...It doesn't?"

"How I feel about saving Mr. Phantomhive is irrelevant. Holiday and the entire world are in danger if I don't solve this mess. So what's most important to us is finding out how..How does he become a demon? And how can I prevent that from happening?"

"Dang...that's some hardcore questioning, Jazzy."

* * *

Hello all and welcome back to another chapter of misery and strange coincidences! Starring Jazz Truman and her talking raccoon friend Roger! Be excited as they venture through 19th century England, with Jazz posing as a servant for Ciel Phantomhive.

Our heroine finally did it. She met and impressed Earl Ciel Phantomhive without even saying a word! Huzzah! Yes, this was a victorious moment for Jazz...but she wouldn't be basking in glory just yet. No, she had to endure something much more terrifying than an angry violent crowd of villagers, or a battle with a giant wolf... Social interaction.

After the carriage ride from the Paddington Orphanage, she and Little Joe were escorted right into Ciel's office. Now it wasn't as cramp as you could imagine but for Jazz, it was an uncomfortable, dreary, sweat-inducing spot to be in..or perhaps it was the fact that she was left alone with such a dangerous boy.

Earl Ciel Phantomhive sips some of his Earl Grey tea while occasionally looking down at his documents. What placed Jazz's mind on alert was precisely this strangeness: the Earl's demeanor. The boy's face didn't express much emotion beyond boredom, drastically different from how he portrayed himself at the orphanage..and substantially different than how _Aristocratic Oaths: Broken_ described him.

 _"..He's supposed to be this threatening, but charismatic trauma victim who lost his empathy. Why in the world is he so quiet and nonchalant? Furthermore, what drove him to hire me in the first place? There must be an angle to this, I'm not seeing."_ She thought.

The raven haired butler knocks before entering the room, smiling as always.

Jazz looks down. _"That guy must be very talented if it only takes him about 10 minutes to prepare for a guest they hired on the spot...or maybe I've been waiting here longer than I thought."_

"It's about time you got back. Are the arrangements finished?" Ciel asks.

"Yes, my lord. I have a bedroom set up for her, a selection of dresses, and.." He frowns. "-...a doghouse for her.. _mutt._

The Earl smiles satisfied, and quickly turns his attention to the girl. "Excellent. Now allow me to introduce myself properly, seeing as you are now officially a member of my staff. I am Ciel Phantomhive, a nobleman- or you may know me better as the owner of the Funtom Corporation who makes toys, candies, games and whatnot for children."

He points to the butler. "The gentleman behind you is the main butler of the estate, Sebastian Michaelis."

"He shall direct you with the household duties I've assigned for you." The boys says.

Jazz turns to face him again, but he stares at her funny...it's a bit unsettling. She is unsure what to make of the stare, unfortunately.

"It shall be a pleasure to guide you, young lady." Sebastian says.

Ciel gestures at the window behind him.

"You will be pleased to find this space more accommodating than your previous residence, having the basic essentials for a growing child such as yourself, but also be more useful for someone with your technical and design talents."

The girl nods. _"..So that's what it is, hm? He's in need of an engineer...this may not be so bad after all."_

"Oh and Azmin, welcome to the Phantomhive manor." He smiles. "Enjoy your new home."

She curtsies and follows Sebastian out. Her canine companion tags along, wearily. In the hall, there was a long path ahead towards the main room holding a staircase. Before getting there, however, the two would need to pass a few guest bedrooms-presumably one that was customized for the girl. As she is walking behind Sebastian, the tired canine starts to lag behind.

 _"..Oh, he's tired. I hope the next place we stop is a good resting spot."_

The butler takes notice of her slowing, and delivers yet another strange stare.

He clears his throat and brings the girl to his side. "My dear, I would prefer it if you kept up. I do not enjoy waiting, especially for canines. Understand?"

She nods and rubs her shoulder. _"..Ouch.."_

 _..._

They eventually arrive at the guest bedroom. Inside, it is marvelous! The bed is fancy for a single, there are remarkable paintings of small animals hanging on the walls, and there are tall, wide windows that complement the warmth the room exudes.

Jazz places her book bag on the bed, inviting the dog to hop on top, and nap.

The butler unamused, glares ever so nastily. Of course this clashing with the canine brings the question: why wouldn't the butler focus on taking the dog into its doghouse before giving the tour?

The girl's eyes race over every inch of the room. _"Bajeebs! This is way bigger than my room. I wonder how rich Mr. Phantomhive is to have rooms like this for his servants?"_

Being engulfed in fascination, she found herself marveling over the room's marble wardrobe. She ran her hand over its doors practically in ecstasy.

Sebastian opened the doors of the dresser, revealing a set of maid outfits.

"Since it is inappropriate for young ladies such as yourself to walk around in trousers, the Young Master has asked me to present two samples dresses he'd prefer you wear. These are not in your size, thus you can continue to wear that outfit of yours for now, but come tomorrow it will be dresses only. Is that understood?"

 _"Mm..both dresses are nice and dark. This blue one is a sturdy, scratchy material. I don't think I can handle wearing it- too itchy!"_ She fondles the puffy shoulders of the dress. _"Well at least its pretty familiar to my usual dress...minus the apron."_

She drapes a black dress against her chest. "...This one is softer, but still a little rough...Nice stitching too."

The folds of the skirt dangle near the floor while in her hands, and she notices how the white bows' ribbons fall right onto the floor. _"Well that's a hazard...Thankfully I can make adjustments."_

The girl's fixation on the fabric take over, and she is trapped in a repetitive trance: **Touch.** **Rub. P** **at.** **Sniff.** **Repeat**.

Sebastian puts aside the other dress and carries the black dress over to the bed.

"Pleasing to see the dresses have enthralled you, but we must discuss your duties as a laborer of the Phantomhive manor. If you would please follow me." Sebastian says whilst opening the door.

Back in the hall, the two resume the tour but are interrupted.

 _ **Aaaaaeeeeee!**_

The butler halts.

"I'm sorry Miss Azmin, but this will probably be the most improper of impressions you'll receive today. Please wait here." He leaves toward the source of the yelp.

...

The girl sighs. _"Well that's unfortunate. I was hoping this place wouldn't be so chaotic during this mission; without stability, I'll definitely lose my focus or be disrupted."_

She cups her cheek and ponders. _"Then again, if I eliminate the distractions, productivity shouldn't be negatively affected. That way, Roger and I can go back home in no time."_

Jazz decides to catch up with the butler, and comes to find the source of the shrieking came from a young, red-haired woman. She apparently thought it was a wise idea to carry a tower of dishes in her hands. Reaching a definite tipping point, the tower of plates slips from the woman's grasp.

"Wh-whoooooaaaaa! Ohhhh, noooo!" The woman shouts.

Sebastian attempts to dash to the woman's side, but the young girl is already bolting towards the scene.

Jazz shoves the falling red-head back, but somehow the woman falls over on her face.

 _"Ahh!..."_ The girl trips onto a nearby table, only managing to catch one plate.

Sebastian steps in to catch all the plates before they fall.

The woman groans. "Ugh, w-why?" She asks aloud.

Jazz stops clinging to the table and helps the woman up. _"Oopsies. I didn't expect her fall that direction, but at least nothing's broken."_

Sebastian moves to her side. "Mey-Rin, this is our new artisan and parlour maid. You shall address her as 'Azmin'."

He turns to the girl. "Young Azmin, this is Mey-Rin. She is the main household maid. She is your superior before me. "

Mey-Rin's cheeks heat up dramatically, her bones and mind tensing up. "...Hello there Azmin..I'm appreciative for the help, I suppose..yes?…"

Sebastian takes the stack of plates from the table and turns to red-headed maid, giving her a stern look. "I am showing our new co-worker around the manor, so please do your best to not break anything else while I am away."

He leads Jazz into the kitchen.

Mey Rin salutes. "Ye-ye-yes sir, Mr. Sebastian sir!"

Inside the kitchen, Sebastian sets down the large stack of plates on the counter, but he notices a blonde man with a cigarette near the stove.

Instinctively, the butler leaps on top of Jazz just before-

 _ **BOOM!**_

A fire erupts.

As if the day couldn't get any worse, our heroine is forced to stare deeply into the black clad butler's eyes. This unusual tint of red and brown, and a solemn, intense brow faced her. Heat from his breath began to singe her own eyes, such a harsh breath!

She sniffs. _"...At least he smells nice...like vanilla and mint."_

The butler's incredible weight begins to crush the girl's arms; she squirms, irritated.

Before climbing off of her, Sebastian takes in Jazz's smell and lets out a soft, but strange noise.

She pushes him off her _"Eek!"._

Still, he continues to look at her with that strange, unsettling stare.

 _"Ugh! What was that all about?"_ Jazz moves over to the source of the explosion and finds the man responsible. He sits in a pile of ash and his hair was covered in smoke, making for a murky, blonde afro.

The cigarette in his mouth disintegrates. "Maybe I should have used less dynamite this time."

She kneels down to him and touches his face. _"Let's hope the explosion didn't melt part of his brain."_

The blonde man pushes her back. "Holy moly, who the devil are you?! And what's with that face?"

Sebastian emerges behind the blonde man and whacks him in the back of the head.

"Ow! Hey!" He shouts.

"Ahem. This lady is your new co-worker, Bardroy."

"...Ah, I see...you're a short one." He says, sheepishly.

"And what have I told you about fumbling around with the stove? You have created such a mess," Sebastian sighs. "-that I inevitably must clean up."

Bardroy rubs his neck and chuckles. "Well this is a bad impression ain't it? Sorry, Miss..-

"Azmin." Sebastian turns to Jazz. "Azmin meet Bardroy, our 'chef'. The kitchen is normally managed by me, but occasionally Bard will 'help out' in here."

She inches away from the two men.

"Huh, 'Azmin'. That's a unusual one! Say, I didn't burn you, did I?" He asks.

Jazz looks at the area affected by the explosion. "This makes no sense. If we were over there, the impact wouldn't have affected us. It's a small space, and...-"

The butler clears his throat. "I'm sure there will be plenty of time to get better acquainted, but right now we need to finish the tour. If you would please follow me, Miss Azmin."

He gestures to the girl, beckoning her to come. She hesitates, but exits the kitchen with him. Sebastian directs the tour into the library room, and as expected, it's filled with a massive assortment of books.

The girl's eyes light up. _"...Whoa...maybe I died earlier in the kitchen, and this is now my heaven."_

She darts over to a bookcase and drags her fingers along the bindings of each book. _"Mm~ I'd do anything to have a collection like this at home...or at least have the time to read a collection like this."_

Once she notices Edgar Allen Poe's "Tell Tale Heart", she swiftly yanks it out. Being that this novel was her all time favorite, it was practically animal instinct to jump right into reading it,...but she wasn't alone doing this.

Sebastian leans over her, smiling eerily. His patience was wearing thin, which is surprising since he held no irritation having to assist his clumsy co-workers earlier. What had set him off now?

The butler places his hand on the bookcase just above her head, and noisily taps his fingers against it.

 _"Huh...?"_ She looks over her shoulder.

"There is a time and place for reading, my dear. I implore you to be more courteous and at least wait for me to-

Sebastian is about to finish his sentence when he suddenly grabs onto the girl, holding her close to his chest. He slides away from the wall of books.

 _ **Thump!**_

A thick encyclopedia falls down from the wall of books.

Crushed by the butler's hard embrace, Jazz punches him in the stomach and backs away.

He chuckles. "Such the aggressive type, aren't you? But alas I was only doing my best to save you..again."

Jazz crosses her arms.

"What a very curious reaction from a lady." Sebastian mutters.

She strikes him with her glare. _"There's something really off here about this guy, but I can't put my finger on it."_

"Let us continue on with the tour, milady. We need to keep on schedule."


	16. An End to a Dreadful Introduction

"..Let's continue on with the tour milady. We need to keep on schedule." Sebastian says.

 _"Okay, now I'm convinced something's wrong. I mean he's such a..-"_

The butler begins walking out the library, but stops midway. His nostrils flare and he doesn't hesitate to sniff like a wild dog.

 _"..maniac."_ Jazz finishes.

He sighs. "My apologies Azmin, but I must attend to a serious matter right now, therefore this tour will be temporarily placed on hold."

Jazz gets ready to leave, but he blocks her path.

The butler sports his usual smirk. "This matter won't take long, so I ask that you remain here in the library."

He exits the room.

"...Do I really have to stay in here?" She mumbles.

"...It ain't like your legs don't work, Angel."

Jazz gasps. "Hey..."

She sees a mini fort of books and peeks her head inside, but is instantly pounced on by Roger.

The raccoon jumps down on her stomach, full of energy.

She grunts. "..Hi there fuzzball."

"Heya, did you miss me? Did you? Did you?" He asks.

Jazz taps his nose. "Of course. I'd miss you for eternity if I had to be stuck alone with these strangers."

She lifts herself up. _"At least there's one person I can trust around."_

Roger laughs and scuttles over to a table. "Sooo, you wanna bust outta this joint and sneak up on Ol' One Eye?"

"We've been here less than two hours and you wanna start trouble?"

"Well what else we gonna do?"

 _ **WAHHHHH!**_

They head over to a window and look around for the source of the wailing. Outside in the garden, a young man was running around, his dandelion hair flowing wildly in the wind. His arms flail violently, and the string of his straw hat unfastens from his chin from all his tears. _He was a caricature of depression, wasn't he?_

"Dang, I got my wish! Now that's I call convenience~" Roger says.

Jazz opens up the window and she leaps into the garden area, carrying her raccoon partner on her shoulder.

The blonde teen eventually tires of sprinting, and stops in front of a bush. This plant ironically would be the "root" of his despair.

The girl gives a good look over each plant in the area. Her mind now engaged in this mysterious dilemma, and her hands begin to move of their own will, grasping at various stems and petals. The clear identifier of the problem turned out to be her nose because from one inhale she was able to diagnose the problem.

"...Yuck. That guy went overboard with pesticides."

"Pbbt! You think? I could smell that from the library!" Roger says.

"..maybe that was that weird reaction." She mumbles. "Plus, the Organophosphate agent in the soil is easy to detect even from indoors."

"Wait,...orga-what-opate?"

"Organophosphate. It's a chemical compound in acid. It acts like an insecticide, destroying the nervous system of insects, and it's also toxic to animals though not as much compared to bugs."

"Oh…This ain't gonna kill me, right?"

Jazz shrugs her shoulders. _"...How would I know? It's not like I usually see city raccoons eating plants and flowers."_

Then she gets up and faces the young blonde man. By his foot, was a bottle of pesticide.

She picks it up and looks over the bottle. _"It's dripping like a loose pipe!...making this an accident. In fact, based on this crack and bruising, I'd wager this guy's grip busted it open. Thankfully, we can just put this in another container, and I could water it down with something to lessen the intensity of its effects. That way, busting the bottle won't kill the plants so easily."_

He turns around. "Huh?! Who are you?"

Jazz points to the dead rose bush.

He looks down. "Aw, yeah..I know. I used too much, I suppose."

The man pulls his hat over his face. "Mr. Sebastian will be sooo mad at me!"

She looks at Roger. "Let's see. If we can't regrow the flowers naturally, maybe we could borrow some living?"

Roger nods. "There's that grass house thing over there. I bet we could get some good stuff in there."

She starts scooping out the dead plants with her hands and Roger joins in too.

"..Ah, I see! Let me help!" The young man grabs two gardening hoes and joins them in scooping out the rest of the dead plants.

When they all finish, she enters the nearby greenhouse. She comes back with potted roses, and daffodils. Her smaller raccoon assistant tries his best with one flower pot, though it is challenging for him to carry it.

"Ooh! Good thinking! This should make Mr. Sebastian happy~" He runs into the greenhouse to carry even more plants.

His worries once troubling him, the young man feels reinvigorated when he places new, healthy plants in the patches of dirt in front of him.

"Oh man, I can't believe how great this turned out! Thank you so much um….?"

He looks at Jazz, expectantly, but she instead shows him her nails. "Aaazzzminnn? Azmin? Is that it?"

Jazz nods. _"...That's going to take some time to get used to, but until I get more nail polish it'll have to do..."_

He smiles widely and gives Jazz and Roger a bear hug. As sweet as the gesture is, the crushing sensation is practically lethal.

"Well nice to meet you, Azmin, my name is Finny! I'm the gardener." He lets go of the two. "Although, I'm not very good you see~"

"Hm, that is surely an understatement."

The three turn to see Sebastian standing by the "improved" garden.

Finny stares at Sebastian admirably, which is one of the more unusual reactions we've seen from each servant thus far.

The gardener grabs Jazz's arm and runs over to the butler.

"Mr. Sebastian, did you meet this one here? They're really nice, and they helped out a lot! Young Master should meet them too! Hehe~"

Sebastian smiles. "Yes I have, as well as the Young Master."

"Great!" He turns to her. "I was the last one to join the manor, so I can show you around~"

"Fortunately, that is not necessary. I was in the middle of giving Azmin a tour...but she just seems to love helping others with their duties. Don't you?"

Jazz looks away. _"Okay, okay. I get it. No need to be so annoying about it."_

"Ooooh, well it's nice to have you on the team, Azmin!" He says.

"Finny? Don't you have other duties to attend to in the garden right now?" Sebastian asks.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes!"

The goofy young man runs away to the other side of the garden area.

This leaves our heroine alone with Sebastian..well I suppose not entirely. Roger was still there on her shoulder.

"It's funny. I thought I asked you to stay in the library yet now you're out here..with a filthy rodent on your arm, hands riddled with dirt, and foul smelling to boot." Sebastian says.

He comes closer to her, and grabs the raccoon. "Go on, you."

When Roger doesn't leave, he begins to shoo him away.

Jazz jerks her head in the direction of the forest.

He nods and scampers away towards the forest.

"I hope you will stop this act of disobedience, because I'm starting to worry if you are actually cooperative enough to work here. I ask that you not go against my orders again. Do I make myself clear?" Sebastian asks.

She gulps.

After re-entering the manor, Jazz is shown every room of the manor, and all duties she is responsible for are thoroughly explained to her. A parlour maid has much to do, and let's not forget she is also responsible for interior decoration and crafting. Quite a long list of responsibilities for a child to complete, but a challenge like this will take time to adjust to and eventually overcome. After all, this was the Victorian Era where children were normally put in dangerous conditions simply to make a pence or two, thus this was nothing unusual for the time.

* * *

Late at night, our heroine sits on her bed staring at her Kit Kuddles notepad.

 _"It's a good time to get organized."_

In the notepad, she wrote down all of her duties. As par for the course, a young hero such had to be prepared to take on many roles, for she believed her time could only be used productively. Anything else...well fun usually wasn't in the agenda.

After looking through the list one more time, she sighs. _"This really isn't going to be easy..I wonder if I went about this wrong. I could have studied Phantomhive from a distance, I could have followed leads from the book that could direct me to the demon who caused all this. Anything else but this,...I could have done."_

Soon enough Roger appears outside the window, tapping frantically at the glass. She lets him in and the raccoon does a belly flop onto the bed.

"Welcome back, fuzzball." She says.

"Hmph! You think some dumb ol' emo hair butler buffoon is gonna keep me away from my girl? No sir!"

"Shhh! These walls aren't soundproof, so turn down the volume."

He rolls his eyes and grabs at Jazz's notepad, flipping through the pages.

"What the? 'A parlour maid has to wash dishes in the..pantry?' What is this malarky?"

She sits back down on the bed. "A parlour maid pretty much does what the butler does if he's too busy."

"Oh. So if butler boy is taking a crap, you're there to serve dinner?"

She smiles. "I'm glad you're around, Roger. Right now, I can already tell that this mission is going to be a pain in the butt."

"Hmph, you can say that again. Those reapers expected you to do this without any idea how to stop this kid. It's bupkis."

"From what I've read in my book, it seems that this Ciel Phantomhive is a tricky person to deal with. His sense of morality is questionable, but what makes him all the more complicated is his dedication to Queen Victoria."

She looks at her notebook. "I wonder what she thinks about him, or if she even knows about his demonic contract."

"Heya….what do think of Ol' One Eye?"

"What I think?...Well he's bold...and arrogant, I guess." "At least, that's my first impression."

"And by 'bold' you mean cranky, right?"

"You'd be more than 'cranky' if you went through what he did."

"So what did that pirate boy go through that was so bad, huh? His butler boy got him the wrong dessert? He stubbed his tiny toes on his midget desk?"

"According to the book, Phantomhive lost his parents to a house fire at only ten years old. Then after being kidnapped and tortured for months, he took vengeance on those who wronged him and his family. Apparently he's spent the past two years rebuilding his family's reputation and searching for information on those who initiated the attack on his manor.

"...Great. So we're gonna be helping some looney brat who murders folks for revenge. Just great."

"The only things I'm uncertain of are how he summoned that demon and what exactly is his end goal. I haven't gotten far enough in the book to understand and it's frustrating.

"I get that those demon schmucks are tearing up Holiday, but how could those four eyed suits ask us to help out somebody like this jerk-hole pirate? It's not like we're into these kinda rescue missions.

"...Yeah I don't exactly agree with these things either; I'd rather be at home reading about the Phoenix, or helping someone who I can trust won't go on a killing spree...but all of that doesn't matter."

"...It doesn't?"

"How I feel about saving Mr. Phantomhive is irrelevant. Holiday and the entire world are in danger if I don't solve this mess. So what's most important to us is finding out how..How does he become a demon? And how can I prevent that from happening?"

"Dang...that's some hardcore questioning, Jazzy."

"...I know, but I need to find the answers. It's the only way to undo the imbalance and save our world." She says

 **Pause**

"...And we will." He says.


	17. A Taste of Phantomhive Hijinks

The next morning, Jazz and Roger wake up to the sound of-

 _ **Mew, mew, meow, ME-OW~**_

This robotic cat noise turned out to be an alarm from Jazz's cellular device. This was one of the many miscellaneous objects she had packed. Yesterday, she set the phone to ring at 6:00 a.m. Why? Well…-

Roger slouches on the pillow next to the girl, and sees the alarm.

 ** _Flick._**

The phone's ringing ceases with a flick from his paw.

He yawns loudly and scratches his stomach. "Ughhh, what..why?..why am I awake?"

Jazz sits up and grabs her phone. "Because a parlour maid must be up by six o'clock sharp."

Then she sluggishly saunters over to her wardrobe.

To prepare for the day, the girl would need to don her mask and Victorian maid attire.

 _"It's been a while now, but I'm not sure I'm ready to reveal my face. I mean, how would they react? Would they take it seriously?"_

As she contemplates her minor dilemma, she grabs the surgeon's mask on her face. To make the garment less awkward, Jazz took it upon herself earlier to color it black, matching her dress. Unfortunately this meant dealing with constant sweat marks around her mouth, chin, and cheeks. To finish her mask disguise, she would need her dark blue scarf, covering her hair and forehead.

Before dressing for the day, Jazz would need to effectively "wake up" with a nice cool splash of water for her face, a warm bath, and a minty scrubbing of the teeth.

Roger follows her into the bathroom. "So what are we doing today, Jazzy?"

Taking out her toothbrush, she spits into the sink and faces her partner with a bored stare.

…

The two heroes spent their time wiping the windows around the manor- every single window! When they finished that, Jazz had to sweep around the place, and dust everywhere. As far as her interior decorating duties, she had to attend to the flowers-including arranging them by what Sebastian instructed. She also had the task of replacing any curtains or textiles that no longer fit the perfect standard for textiles the Phantomhive manor held. No doubt, she left that duty to Roger since she lacked any talent in sewing.

But what is more tiring about this whole ordeal is that nowhere did Sebastian ever mention Jazz being assigned to invent something, which was her most cherished and skilled talent.

Rightfully exhausted, Jazz and Roger take a break from her morning duties and wander into the dining room where Finny, Mey-rin, Bardroy, and a very tiny old man were standing around.

In order to not startle anyone, Roger hides under Jazz's hood. There are certainly many eyes potentially watching the girl now, so what she naturally does in these situations is people watch. _To scope out and learn about others, it is best to observe and analyze from a distance, no?_

She catches Ciel sitting down for breakfast...but there is a dart in his hand for some reason. Suddenly, the boy fires a dart at her!

She dodges to the side and grabs the dart with ease. _"...What did that accomplish?!"_

He glances over at Jazz, smug and proud.

"..Well done." Ciel says before going back to his meal.

Roger grits his teeth. "Why that lil' one eyed butthead! How could he do that?"

"Maybe he's a sociopath. Explains the borderline antisocial behavior, but…" She looks at the dart again. "-maybe he's just bored."

"Pbbt! Don't make excuses for crazy pants!"

Sebastian rushes into the room and sees that the servants are playing around.

"Oh great, it's that buffoon butler boy again!" Roger says.

 **SILENCE**

Everyone looks around.

Angered, the butler's eyes scan the room searching for his offender. He doesn't have to look far once he notices that Jazz is the only one not searching for the source of the voice.

Sebastian clears his throat. "I'm sure you all have better things to do than loiter around the dining area, correct?"

The three servants are still on alert, but redirect their attention to the head butler.

"Finny, you should be outside pulling the weeds."

The gardener chuckles.

"Mey-rin, you have sheets to clean."

The maid blushes.

"Bard, you should be preparing dinner for tonight's guest."

The chef scratches his beard.

"Tanaka,...-

The miniature sized older butler sits Indian style on a small pillow, drinking his tea.

"-you are actually fine as you are." Sebastian finishes.

"Ho, ho, ho!" The old butler says.

All the servants except Tanaka and Jazz exit.

Sebastian stands close to the girl and his red eyed stare pierces her body, making her skin crawl.

"And Azmin, since you enjoy disrespecting me with childish terms, you shall spend your time shadowing me in the kitchen." He says.

The girl glares at Roger.

…..

In the kitchen, Sebastian is chopping away at vegetables perfectly, smiling all the way. Meanwhile, Jazz sits on a small stool on the other side of the room, daydreaming.

 _"Hm...this is life as a maid.."_ She glances at the butler. _"-..shadowing a man chopping produce...Yipee."_

Roger hops out of Jazz's hood and lands on her lap.

"Hehe, my bad about getting you in this mess, Jazzy. I really forgot about the whole 'not talking out loud' thing, but I swear I can make it up to you." Roger says as he twiddles his thumbs.

She shrugs. "Ah, forget it. It's not like I had anything more interesting to do."

"Well, we could get some dirt on Ol' One Eye. Where's that fat book you got?"

"It's in my book bag." She says. " _I can't risk the others finding it and realizing someone has information on all of them."_

"Good. Then let's go get it. Beats sitting 'round this snoozefest kitchen." He says.

Roger pulls on Jazz's hand to get her off the stool, but she takes her hand back.

"Heya, what's with you?"

"I can't just leave, dummy. He'll notice. Remember I'm here as a punishment?" She says.

Sebastian turns his head and notices Jazz is staring at the ground, gesturing wildly.

The raccoon notices, and quickly hides in the pantry.

"Wha-, hey…" Jazz mumbles.

The butler appears next to her.

"Young Azmin, I had you shadowing me for a reason. You are not to be playing around."

He ushers Jazz off the stool and walks her over to the cutting board. Being too short to see over the counter, Sebastian grabs a stool for her to stand on.

"There, now you can watch carefully." The butler resumes cutting the vegetables.

Jazz sighs. _"...It feels like I'm with my dad. He gets uppity about food, and wastes no time tossing facts at you about the 'proper technique.'"_

"Miss Azmin, I know you don't speak much but could I inquire where you're from?" Sebastian asks.

She shakes her head. _"...Why does he need to know? It's not like being from West Holiday is something you want to tell someone about. It's like saying you're from Mars...or Atlantis."_

The butler smirks. "Ah, I presume you have a harsh background that scarred your poor, young mind to the point where speaking holds no importance to you?"

She shakes her head once more. _"...Why does me being quiet have to be linked to some wrecked childhood? Why? I'm just a simple girl that gets into stupid situations. Nothing special."_

Sebastian finishes chopping vegetables and turns to face Jazz. He stares into her eyes.

"I apologize if I come off as strict. I worry that you will act out like the others and cause issue with the Young Master's plans. And as your elder, I feel it is important to instill in you some discipline. Please don't take my actions personally."

Jazz nods.

Sebastian smiles. "I suppose since you refuse to speak, we should find some other method for you to communicate. Do you know how to read or write, Young Azmin?"

 **BANG, BANG!**

The butler rolls his eyes. "Perhaps we should go find the source behind that noise."

He heads out of the kitchen, and the girl follows behind him.

Roger appears out of the pantry holding up two pots. He looks around and notices that the two have left.

"Hey, where the heck did that buffoon go with my girl? And-"

The raccoon is distracted by the chopped food on the counter and begins chowing down on it.


	18. Sparks Set

The Earl was sitting in his office, lying his head against his paperwork.

The boy had a long day as usual filling out paperwork necessary to maintain relations with current clients associated with the Funtom brand. Typically during the midday, Ciel Phantomhive would be greeted by his loyal butler, Sebastian, who would have tea and sweets on a platter.

...He hadn't arrived yet.

The boy was staring at the door with tired, puffy eyes.

 ** _rumble...rumble...rumble..._**

"..Ah!"

 **SILENCE**

He sighs. "...How hasn't anything exploded yet?"

Fed up, the Earl looks at the set of bells that are used to activate other bells hooked up around the manor. He rings the bell labeled "kitchen" and taps his fingers patiently on his desk.

 **3 Minutes Later...**

He stands, grabs his cane, and storms out of his office.

"Honestly! That demon…" He says under his breath.

As he makes his way downstairs and towards the kitchen, Roger scuttles past him.

The boy nearly falls over. "Ah! What the devil?!"

He hurries into the kitchen area and his blood goes cold. The entire set of ingredients for the dinner has disappeared and only some vegetable bits are left. The cabinet doors are all open, emptied, and covered in waste.

 _"W-what the hell...where the hell is he?!"_

Ciel exits the kitchen, but after one step-

 **SPLAT!**

He looks down and finds a small, smelly pile of brown mush on the bottom of his cane and left shoe. I don't have to tell you what the Earl did next next...but I'll tell you anyway.

"SEBASTIAN!" He screams.

* * *

Sebastian and Jazz were strolling the halls in search of the banging noise, but had no luck.

"Hm, I was certain the sound was from one of the three. They are the only ones here that make such disruptive noise." He says.

 _"Boy, the way he talks about them all, they must be a hassle to be around."_

 _..._

 **"SEBASTIAN!"**

...

 _"What a twist. It turns out the noisiest person in the house is the deranged, sociopathic dart boy."_

She tugs on the butler's arm and points to down the hall.

"Mm..normally I would see to Young Master's distress, but I am curious about what trouble the three have caused. It is likely they are connected to the Young Master's outrage." He says.

He continues walking down the hall while Jazz walks the opposite way. She takes her time to look around for any sign of destruction, but finds nothing. Once reaching the kitchen's doorway she spots-

 _"Yucky...this is why you shouldn't feed a racoon broccoli."_

Carefully, she avoids the feces and re-enters the kitchen. Unfortunately, the Earl is there as well. He was sitting on the counter and running water over his boot.

Looking to avoid a conversation, the girl tries backing out of the kitchen...-

"Oy Azmin, tell me where Sebastian is." Ciel commands.

 _"How about I pretend I care where he is?"_ She shrugs her shoulders and leans against the kitchen door.

"Tch. You were supposed to be shadowing him, and you suddenly lose him?" Ciel asks.

She looks blankly at the boy.

He sighs. "Whatever."

Jazz looks at his boot more closely and realizes he must have stepped in the pile of feces outside. She moves over to him, and takes off his boot. Caught off guard, he scoots and watches her carefully. It's difficult to predict the actions of a quiet person, so he begins to kick his feet back and forth quickly thinking of an icebreaker.

"..Tell me, why are you wearing that mask? If it's because of a scar, I can say with confidence that no one here will care much."

Jazz glances at Ciel then goes back to washing his boot.

She points to his eye patch and gestures at him to take it off.

He scoffs. "Touche then."

In a childish attempt to get back at her, Ciel pops the strap on Jazz's mask, making her flinch and drop the boot.

 _"Ah!"_

She tries to keep the inside from getting wet, but isn't quick enough.

She sighs and picks up Ciel's now soggy boot. _"Nice. Real nice, guy."_

He gets up from the counter. "..You were prepared for a dart, but not that? Pity."

She glares at him. _"This smug little.."_

"Alright enough of that nasty look. Arguably, I should be the one upset, considering it's my boot." He says.

Jazz puts a hand on her hip . _"Well at least you have some sense in you..cheesehead."_

Desperate to hurry up and fix Ciel's boot, she points toward the kitchen's exit.

"I was planning to assign Sebastian the task, but since you are part to blame in this, I see it fit that you try and remedy this issue." Ciel says.

Jazz leads Ciel out of the kitchen, cautiously walks with him around the feces, and they go toward his master bedroom.


	19. The Realization That You're Being Wanted

Ciel was sitting on his bed as he waited for Jazz to bring him back a proper shoe. The girl was currently fumbling around in the bathroom, looking for any spare pair of boots or anything to dry off Ciel's current boot.

She sighs and stops parading through every inch of the bathroom.

 _"I can't just make him new boots."_ She rubs her chin. _"If only I could dry them...-"_

"I need the Hot Flasher." She says.

Ciel looks toward the bathroom. "Oy, are you playing around in there or are you fixing my boot?"

Jazz dashes out of the Earl's bedroom and goes to her room. On her way there, she runs into Sebastian in the hall.

 **BAM!**

The girl lands on the floor, her bottom smacks against the hard wooden floors.

While the girl is flustered, the butler hides a strange looking device in his pocket.

She groans. _"Ack! It's like running into a friggin' brick wall!"_

Sebastian kneels down to the girl up, but notices she has Ciel's boot. "Well, well, well what have you been up to?"

She dusts herself off and hurries inside her room. _"It must be in here somewhere..."_

The butler follows. "Did you attend to the Young Master's needs?"

Jazz points to Ciel's soggy boot.

Then she pulls out a red spray bottle labeled "Hot Flash".

"How on Earth could the Young Master achieve such a ridiculous misfortune as this?" Sebastian smiles. "You weren't involved were you?"

Without hesitation, she sprays at the boot.

 _ **SIZZZZ!**_

Hot fumes surround the boot and the water dripping slowly evaporates into air.

The usually sanguine looking butler's eyes widened. "W-why that was..incredible. What is that you have there?"

She blows on the spray bottle then holds out her hand, gesturing to Sebastian to hand her the boot.

He gives it back and looks at her spray bottle, intensely. "..The 'flash'..? Is that its name?"

Jazz points to the label on the bottle, and places it in her book bag. Sebastian reaches for the bag, but she slaps his hand and shoos him away.

He smiles. "Hm, excuse my curiosity Azmin...I've never heard of a product that could quite do that."

She turns around and searches through the bag again to make sure the book is still there. Sebastian leans over her and catches a strong whiff. His eyes flash pink, and he accidentally lets out a groan.

 _"What's his problem?"_

The butler takes a second to compose himself, but Jazz's body jolts at what she sees. Before he can explain himself, the girl hits him with the boot and runs away, taking her bag.

Sebastian is left standing with his face partially covered in dirt...and feces.

...

While Jazz is running throughout the halls back to Ciel's room-

 ** _CRASHHH!_**

She falls over in front of Ciel's bedroom door.

As she tries to get up, the Earl opens the door.

 _ **WHACK!**_

With one swift smack to the face, the girl is left dizzy and disoriented on her back.

Ciel finally notices he hit something. "...Oops."

He lifts up his eyepatch, revealing the seal on his eye. "Sebastian, come now and I mean it."

The raven haired butler naturally appears by Ciel's side within a millisecond.

With one hand over his heart he says, "You called, my lord?"

The boy slaps him, catching some of residue from his face.

"Ugh! What in the world?" He yells.

" I apologize my lord, but you see I found myself in quite a mess-

"Shut up. I-I don't even care anymore about this rubbish! Just tend to Azmin and check up on those buffoons before they destroy my manor!"

Ciel picks up his boot, and looks at Jazz's book bag. _"Hm, what a strange design."_

Sebastian picks up Jazz, her bag, and heads back into her bedroom.

* * *

He places her on the bed and tosses her book bag on the end table. Then he sits on the edge of the bed, looking over the girl's unconscious body...

The butler notices she has a bump on her forehead, but also checks other areas where she may have been bruised. While searching, he begins stroking her head, stopping at the edge of where her mask lies. He leans over her to sniff at her neck again, and his eyes light up pink once more.

Sebastian moans. "What a sweet, delicious treat~"

"But why do you hide? Why mask your scent from me, sweet?" Sebastian asks.

He begins lifting up her mask and starts seeing the rest of her face, but just as he's close

 **AHHHH!**

He growls. "Apologies my dear, but I have to attend to another matter."

Sebastian smirks. "Perhaps when I come back, we can finish this moment~"

...

A few moments, Jazz opens her eyes.

She touches her face, and looks at the door. _"So..Ciel has a contract with him…"_ She shudders. _"-and he wants...my scent?"_

 _"This is just the beginning of a really bad day."_


	20. The Three Musketeers Are At It!

Let's take a little break from all this eeriness and look into the shenanigans of the three musketeers of the Phantomhive manor staff: Finny, Bardroy, and Mey-Rin. In case you're unaware or haven't been paying attention these last chapters, these three are employed by Ciel Phantomhive to maintain his manor. Finny is the gardener, Bardroy is the "chef", and Mey-Rin is the maid. However, they are all terrible at their jobs for reasons I will not discuss yet. Despite their slight awareness of their incompetence, they still carry on performing their assigned duties.

Sebastian, prior to getting distracted earlier, had instructed these three to perform their duties for the arrival of a dinner guest. However, what he actually meant was for them to stay out of his way while he prepared everything for Ciel's guest. The raven haired butler had already perfectly arranged the flowers outside the manor and was preparing the dinner as well. With Sebastian distracted however, that left a certain "chef", "gardener", and "maid" the opportunity to step up to the plate.

Finny, Bardroy, and Mey-Rin were in the kitchen looking over the wreckage Roger had caused earlier.

"Holy smokes! The entire pantry's cleaned out!" Bardroy exclaims.

"Oh yes, yes this will not be a pretty sight for Sebastian to see, oh no!" Mey-Rin.

Finny points to the chopping board. "And worse, there's no food for the guest to eat tonight!"

Bard picks up the knife Sebastian left on the counter and grins madly!

Mey-Rin and Finny flinch.

"B-b-b-bard, what are you looking like that for?!" She yells.

"Guys, don't you get it? This is our chance!" Bardroy says.

"What do you mean?" Finny asks.

The chef puts down the knife and points toward the kitchen door.

"That old perfectionist Sebastian abandoned his duties, and now we have a dilemma. The guest has no dinner and from the looks of this kitchen, we don't have many options of things to cook here! So you know what that means right?" Bardroy asks.

"We..we're in trouble!" Mey-Rin says.

"-Yeah, we need Sebastian to-

"No! It's our time to shine now! I can cook the meal- a roast probably, that way I can use me flamethrower. Hehe!"

"And I guess I can spruce up the garden some..maybe spray some pesticides over 'em plants!" Finny says.

"Oh! Oh! And I can bring in some of the fine china for dinner!" Mey-Rin shouts.

"Perfect. This'll be our big chance to prove to Sebastian that we are good at our jobs, and impress the Young Master with our expertise! Ha, ha!" Bardroy cheers.

The three Phantomhive musketeers all high five each other and go off to execute their plan…...and of course, it doesn't exactly work out for them.

* * *

Mey-Rin rushes to the big pantry room to look for the good china. "Where is it?! It has to be close!" She yells.

Well she was right. It was close. But because her broken glasses were too cracked to see through properly, she runs into a tall stand carrying the all the good dishes and silverware. It lands right on her with every single plate and bowl crashing onto the floor, breaking into little pieces.

"Ow…." Mey-Rin moans in pain.

...

Finny hurries into the greenhouse to pick up that big bottle of pesticides and drenches the garden in it. Despite Jazz's attempt to repair the bottle handle and lessen the poison's' effects, the gardener somehow defies all those precautions.

"There, there now this will help keep you all nice and healthy for our guest!" He says with a big smile.

The rose bushes, the daffodils, the lilies, and the petunias crinkle up and turn brown after being showered with pesticides. Finny realizing what he's done, sobs. To add insult to injury, when he puts his hands on his face his eyes begin to burn!

"Ahhhh! It stings!"

...

And lastly there's Bardroy. He frantically searches the kitchen, trying to find some meat to make his supposedly "famous" roast.

"All the compartments in this kitchen, and I can't even find a bloody smidgen of game? Where does he put the meat for christ's sake?!" He yells as he grabs his head.

The chef grabs his flamethrower and looks outside the kitchen only to find a pile of smelly, brown mush on the floor. He sticks his tongue out in disgust and moves away.

He grins."...Huh, well maybe there is some meat around here after all."

Bardroy notices a trail of bits of vegetable around the feces and follows it.

It ends up leading him towards the guest bathroom. Inside, it's a bit dark so he lights up the room with his flamethrower. When he enters though, there is some strange chitter chatter and scratching.

"...Hey, who's there?"

A loud belch is heard. Bardroy is scared, and turns up the setting on his flamethrower to see better...-

 ** _Scratch!_**

Streaks and cuts all over the walls..

 _ **Plop!**_

"Ah! What was that?!"

Bardroy moves his flamethrower toward the toilet...but no one is there.

Then...

 _ **Ugggggh..**_

The chef's ears direct him over to the bathroom sink, and it is there he sees...Roger sitting in the sink, reading a newspaper.

"Oh, I knew I shouldn't have eaten that broccoli.." The raccoon moans.

He looks up at Bardroy, and screams. The chef screams back at him and starts firing flames at him.

Roger scampers out of the bathroom wailing while Bardroy chases after him with his flamethrower. With Bardroy still on his tail, the raccoon chooses the only location he can think of to lose him, the kitchen!


	21. Breaking the Rules of Story

While casually completing tasks and maintaining order, Ciel's loyal demon butler Sebastian Michaelis would occasionally find himself without much to do with his free time. He adored cats and would sometimes make time to interact with kittens outside that strayed onto the manor's grounds. When he didn't have those opportunities he would grow bored and pensive...That is until he came across one of Jazz's belongings.

Right now, Sebastian was strolling through the halls of the manor on his way towards the kitchen to end Bardroy's cooking disaster, but he was distracted by the cellular device he was holding.

He blushes. _"..This is probably the epitome of enjoyment I could ever experience."_

As the butler nears the kitchen, his fingers uncontrollably tap at the digital screen. It appeared Sebastian was playing a game where you take care of a kitten in a confined room.

Now I won't go into details about how much this game turned Sebastian into a zombie because you could have already guessed that. What you couldn't have guessed is that being preoccupied with the phone caused Sebastian to step right onto Roger's waste, slide into the kitchen, and smack right into Bardroy, who at the moment was chaotically firing around the room.

"Ah!" Bardroy yells.

The chef misfires towards the kitchen stove and the entire room blows up in smoke. Shortly after, Roger scuttles out of the room and leaves Sebastian and Bardroy in the kitchen covered in smoke.

"Uh...hey there, buddy! I didn't realize you'd be back..so soon. Hehe." Bardroy says.

Sebastian puts away the phone, and crosses his arms. "Bard, how exactly did this happen?"

"Well-uh, I uh….We-

"'We'? Don't tell me…"

...

In the following turn of events, Sebastian looks over all the damage done by the three servants.

"We-we're sorry Mr. Sebastian! We just wanted to help!" Finny says with teary eyes.

"Yes, yes! I-I thought bringing in the good china would make the guest happy, but now…There's no more dishes!" Mey-Rin cries.

Mey-Rin and Finny whine while Bardroy stands there, arms crossed.

Tanaka as usual sits Indian style and drinking tea. "Ho, Ho, Ho!"

"I was taking care of a pest problem we apparently have! There's bloody talking animals running around the bloomin' place." Bardroy says.

"Thus you decided to set the kitchen ablaze?" Sebastian asks.

Bardroy groans. "What would you have done then?"

The raven haired butler sighs and looks at his pocket watch.

"You three shouldn't have behaved like that. Now the Young Master and his guest's dinner is in jeopardy."

Sebastian points to Tanaka. "If you'd all take a page from Tanaka's book and

The butler walks over to Tanaka and grabs his cup of tea. "I believe we could save this with a little Japanese touch."

"Ho, ho, ho!" Tanaka says.

I'll admit it. Sebastian's idea to switch the menu and outside decor to a Japanese theme was quite resourceful, but that wouldn't impress everybody...you know the ones who knew what he really was?

Our heroine now discovered the truth.

* * *

The girl was sitting in the manor's lounge room, reading Aristocratic Oaths: Broken. After her enlightening encounter with Sebastian, she had found out two important facts: One, Ciel Phantomhive made the contract with Sebastian which was visible on his right eye….and Two, Sebastian was interested in her...

While she couldn't comprehend the latter fact, but more information about the Earl's demonic contracts could lie within the pages of her book, so she decided to spend her time hiding out in the lounge room to investigate.

 _"...Nothing...There's barely anything about it...Where is it?!"_ She flips another page.

...

 _ **Screeeeech!**_

The girl looks up from her book and at the window and she sees…...?

 _"What?! But how are you here?"_

..The tail disappears...

After that strange vision, she is poked at her shoulder, but when she turns around she sees-

"Whoa! Geez, relax Angel. It's just me." Roger says holding up his paws.

The silly raccoon's fur was dirty as ever! Soot and ash stained him it seemed.

Jazz looks back at the window...but nothing is there.

"Ya alright?" Roger asks.

He grabs at her hood and she turns back around, startled once more.

"...Yes..I'm fine." She mutters. _"I just thought I saw something."_

She takes off her mask and pulls down her hood. _"It's probably all this heat that's getting to me."_

"Hmm, I don't see how you keep that crud on all day like that. I'd go nuts..but then again, I'm furry so.." Roger says.

"Yes..you're also smokey too." She looks back at her book. "I'm guessing that World War III in the kitchen I heard earlier was you?"

"Hehe, how'd ya guess?"

"I have an intuition about those things..but not this for some reason." She says.

The raccoon jumps on her shoulder, and leans in closer to read the book.

"It's weird. Ferrier explains that Phantomhive had made a contract with a demon and for the past two years, he's spent the time building back up the Funtom company and his identity..but when it talks about his 'end', it says 'A female demon granted a final request for his eternal living.'" Jazz says.

"So...what of it?" Roger aks.

"Well you know the strange butler, right?" She asks.

He nods.

"Well he's the demon the Phantomhive kid made a contract with."

"Wait, so that means..he's a 'she'?" He asks.

Jazz stands up, and looks out the window. "No, it means there is another demon involved in this mess. And I think, we might need some help sniffing them out."

 _"Or perhaps you two are getting ahead of the story I'm trying to tell here!"_ I say.

"...Um, excuse me?" Jazz says.

 _"We haven't even finished this first story and you're already ruining my narrative!"_ I say.

The girl rolls her eyes. "Roger, let's go. I think the Phantomhive manor can survive without us protagonists while we sort out this problem."

 _"Fine! Break the written narrative and do whatever the heck you want! What do I care? It's only my job to tell a decent story after all…"_ I say.

"How about this, Narrator man? Let me and Jazzy get on the right track here with our quest, and we'll let you narrate us for awhile doing that. I bet ya 5 bucks that'll boost the ratings on this thing! What d'ya say?"

 _"...Alright. But you cannot just stray off the storyline like that. There's a reason for it, you know?"_ I say.

"What's the reason?" She asks.

 _"If I told you, I'd have to kill you off screen so just get out of here!"_ I say. _"Go on...do what you want already."_

Jazz looks out the window. The dinner guest is getting out of his carriage and being greeted by Ciel and Sebastian. She goes into her book bag and takes out the business card that William had given her in the present timeline.

 _"I'm not sure if this will work the way it does in our time, but hopefully we can at least contact him. Maybe he'll have some insight into Ciel so we can start getting on the right track."_

Roger smirks. "Ah, I see. So we're gonna call up that suit schmuck."

The girl puts her hood and mask back on before exiting the lounge.


	22. I Can Do Whatever I Want

Our heroine is walking in the hall, heading towards the manor's telephone room when she bumps into ever so clumsy maid, Mey-Rin.

She shrieks. "Ah! Azmin, y-you have a rat on your arm!"

"Hey! Who you calling a rat, lady?!" Roger yells.

Mey-Rin is utterly shocked. "Did..did that thing just..Ah!"

The poor woman faints.

"Man...these jerks act like they ain't never seen a raccoon before..."

"...Well your species aren't native to England so.." Jazz says.

The raccoon looks back at Mey-Rin's body. "Whatevuh. You think the broad'll be alright?"

"You heard the narrator. We can do whatever we want at this point, so who cares what happens?" Jazz says.

Sigh..Yes, she's breaking all the rules now! In fact, after Jazz said that, she pulled down her hood and tore off her surgeon's mask, breaking the strap.

Roger smirks at her and chuckles. "Man, you're going all in on this too~ Ha,ha! "

The two finally reach the telephone room, but they find that the dinner guest has occupied the only telephone.

"Hehehe, yeah! I've already sold the factory.." The guest nods. "-and I'm about to get this ignorant brat to invest some more." He chuckles. "Like taking candy from a baby.."

Roger crosses his arms. "..No good scheming..-

Jazz picks up Roger and hides him from view of the guest.

She clears her throat, bringing the guest's attention to her.

His jaw drops a little. "Um, excuse me I have to go." The guest says as he sloppily hangs up the phone.

The man smiles at Jazz. "Oh buona sera!..I don't remember the Earl introducing me to you."

She curtsies.

"Hehe, my name is Damian,..um what is your name, bambina?"

"...I'm Jazmine Tacinelli. Piacere di conoscerti."

Damian pats her head. "Ah..a fellow Italian. Piacere di conoscervi."

He takes a Funtom lollipop from his pocket. "Well, I'm not sure what you heard, but how about we keep it our little secret, eh?"

The candy is wrapped in a pink and white polka dot pattern. _"Must be strawberry..Nice."_ She accepts it.

Damian smiles. "That-a girl! Now, if you'll excuse me I must take my leave. Ciao!" He walks out the room.

...

She stares at the lollipop, curiously. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Roger jumps back on her shoulder. "Don't I know it!"

The girl takes out her own lollipop- and for those of you confused as to how it turned back to a lollipop, rest assured I shall explain. You see-

"Hey..how does that hammer thing of yours get so tiny?" He asks.

"Elementary my dear Roger. The Skeletal Annihilator is activated by contact with saliva and mild heat. The saliva activates the accelerated growth augmentation in the handle, and the heat transforms the skull into the large flat metal head. And integrated with light magic, it can transform into any shape I see fit. Naturally, it will eventually return to its original state." She says as she puts the lollipop in her mouth.

Roger scratches his head. "Could you say that again in English, Dexter?"

She takes out the lollipop and it transforms again into a large hammer.

"You suck on the candy and the spit makes it grow."

"Oh..you should speak English more often, Jazzy."

* * *

Damian, Ciel's supposedly "honest" head of a Funtom toy factory, strolls the halls of the Phantomhive manor. This man had arrived to the Earl's abode to ask for more money for the factory. However, he made a few mistakes during the planning and execution of his scheme…

As he passes a large painting of Ciel's parents, Rachel and Vincent, he notices something curious.

...The eyes in the picture become ghostly, coming to life!

 **AHHHHHH!**

He falls backwards down the steps, his right leg now broken.

 **The first mistake Mr. Damian made was believing Ciel to be a fool.**

The poor man's screams become long, agonizing cries but just when he thinks it couldn't get any worse, he hears moaning...and not the pleasurable kind.

"Help!" He screams.

 ** _Ughhhhhhhh...uhhhh..._**

Damian's heart races.

In an attempt to escape, he grabs onto the railing of the steps he fell down. Miraculously, the man manages to pull himself up so he can stand on his working leg. He looks around, sweating up a storm but eventually finds a body lying on the ground. Being so dark in the manor, Damian could only make out bits of the color red near the body.

"Hello?! Is anyone there? I need help!"

 **...No answer.**

Damian grabs his broken leg and limps over to the motionless body. With every step, he wails miserably.

* * *

 **The second mistake Mr. Damian made was underestimating the antics of Ciel's staff.**

Jazz instantly emerges from the shadows on the steps and looks at Damian from afar. She readies her sledgehammer and leaps from the top of the stairs to the downstairs floor, slamming her hammer down greatly. The blow impacted by the hammer causes an explosion that spreads over towards Damian.

He flies up into the air and lands on top of the moaning body. "Ahhhh!"

The previously, moaning body wakes up.

"Oh my goodness, Mr. Damian sir, how could you?!" Mey-Rin yells before pushing him off.

The maid runs away, clutching at her private areas.

"Somebody help me! Please!" Damian cries.

Jazz looks on, cautiously. _"...Oh no...I had no idea he broke his leg!"_

...A hand grabs at her shoulder.


	23. The (Un)expected Twist

"Well don't just give me that doe-eyed look. Come." The boy says.

 _"...Mm."_

Ciel takes Jazz's hand and leads her towards the lounge room. When they enter, she can see that he has set up a chess table in the room; around the table are some lit candles, but barely does anything to help her see.

The Earl sits down in his chair and gestures for the girl to join.

She sits down and looks at the chess set more closely. _"...I'm in hot water now.."_

Ciel strokes his chin, pondering.

Jazz sighs. _"Apparently this is a great time to play a game. Nevermind that a man broke his leg downstairs...that I broke his leg."_ She frowns. _"Bajeebs, who am I right now?"_

"What? You want me to carelessly move so you can have an advantage?" Ciel asks, eyes still on his pieces.

"...You're the one going first." She says.

The girl glares. _"...Plus you want to bring me in to play a game with you..in the dark..terrifying me? Sure, I'm definitely the one trying to get an advantage here."_

Ciel grins and moves one of his pawns.

He looks up at her, staring carefully. "Faces like yours..don't seem common for lower class. However, I had a feeling this was the case earlier."

 _"Let me guess, when you're rich you can just smell what class people are in?"_ Jazz moves her pawn.

"-And the skill with technology you possess is unusual for a child. These things intrigued me so much, which is why I'm pleased to see what you really are. "

She looks down. "...Are you going to hurt me?"

The boy moves another pawn. "Now why would I do that?"

Jazz looks at the chess board and sees that the Earl is ganging up on her one pawn...

 _"...I really stink at games.."_

She takes her pawn away. "...Because I'm expendable."

His eyebrows raise. "Hm, such a big word for a child to use."

Jazz places her pawn back on the chessboard, but as she waits for him to make a move-

 ** _tap..tap..tap..._**

Ciel taps at his knight. "Azmin, I see you as more of an asset than a liability. Your actions earlier have shown me ..somewhat of your loyalty, thus it would be a pity to let you stray from me."

She flinches as Ciel quickly stands and asserts himself over to her side; he takes her hand, gazes into her eyes and leans to kiss her hand.

"And please, call me 'Ciel'."

The girl shakes her head."...it's actually 'Jazmine'."

"Hm?"

"...My name." She says, showing him her nails.

The letters "J" and "E" were still missing, however.

"Ah...that makes more sense." He says.

 _ **Help Meeeeee!**_

The two children walk over to the window and see Damian limping away from the the Phantomhive manor. His suit was burnt and his hair singed.

The Earl stares blankly at Jazz. "The last mistake Damian made was facing his punishment with such cowardice."

She looks back at Damian, and shakes her head. _"..I can't believe I did that. What the heck was I thinking?...I mean if Osiris saw that, he'd be so disappointed."_

A quick glance at Ciel sends the girl goosebumps; he was smiling of all expressions!

 _"..And if I'm not careful, I might end up a complete sociopath…"_

* * *

Ciel is walking Jazz back to her bedroom.

She looks over at Roger who has fallen asleep on her shoulder. _"Boy, he must have been exhausted with all that's happened today..."_ Her eyes close. _"..Now if only I could get a good sleep every now and again..."_

The Earl grimaces, and pokes the raccoon. "I hope that thing of yours isn't diseased because I'm not going to find a veterinarian to care for it."

She rolls her eyes and looks straight ahead.

"And furthermore, how do you even keep these things as pets?"

 _"Right. Because these 'things' are the most disgusting unredeemable things in existence."_

"...He's not mine."

"That makes it worse then. A rodent is not a normal pet. It's a wild pest." He says.

"..That's not the only pest here..." She mutters.

"Hmph, what do you mean by that?"

Jazz looks away.

He glares at her. "..That better not have been a snide quip at me, girl."

...

The two finally reach her bedroom. As she is opening the door, the boy stops her.

"I want to make this clear: You are not going to hide beneath some mask. As a Phantomhive servant, you face me in honest. Got that?"

Jazz nods.

He sighs. "And speak up, would you? I'm not going to play charades just to have a conversation with you."

"...okay, sir."

Ciel approves and begins walking away. The girl remains in the hall as he leaves, admiring that confident stride.


	24. The Curious Case of Jazz Truman

" 'Aristocratic Oaths: Broken', really? You're still reading that?" Ron asked.

 _"Just because you don't like history doesn't mean everyone else has to hate it too."_ Jazz thought.

"...That book is so whack. But it's even weirder to hear about 'supernatural forces' in a social studies class about the Industrial revolution in Britain!" Shawna said.

Right now, which is two weeks ago before Jazz traveled to the past, her and her classmates Shawna and Ron were at a diner. The two usually chatted it up with our heroine after a long, irritating day of school.

As the narrator, flashing back is a privilege that my boss allows me when he feels I've begun to ramble myself into 'a storm of boring' as he likes to put it.

Anywho, Jazz was enjoying her time off from school at a local Holiday diner, The Flashback Fryer. The diner booth where the children sat was dark red, shiny, and a bit uncomfortable. The decor of the diner was not much better, though. It looked like it was going for a "1950's burger and milkshake" theme, but the color scheme had green walls with banana yellow counters, and dark red chairs and black lamps. Did a Christmas elf get confused and decorate the place while someone colorblind handled the tables? **_I'm not sure_**..I only know that it was a strange, but popular diner for the residents of East and West Holiday.

 _"...But the supernatural is throughout all history."_ Jazz pointed to a painting.

The painting depicted East Holiday's town public attraction, a 50 ft tall sculpture of a chocolate bar with a crown. Shawna and Ron groaned.

Shawna took a sip of her soda and groaned. "Please, for the love of marshmallows don't mention that picture. It's embarrassing enough that it exists!"

Jazz turned away from the painting. "...The point still stands."

Ron chuckled. "What point? That magic is in history?..And what does that have to do with this Ciel Phantomhive kid?"

"Exactly. Just because supernatural stuff happens in the world doesn't make up for the fact that this guy was a ruthless murderer. Who, by the way, is still is unrelated to the industrial revolution." Shawna said.

Jazz took out the book, and turned to a page that featured the author. "..that's why I'm reading."

 _"Ignoring the Victorian brat, there's something greatly interesting I skimmed in another chapter."_

"There's always just going to the library to find out the truth. Instead of wasting time on this historical fiction." Ron said.

...

After some time Jazz found a picture of a bird inside the book, and showed it off to the others.

"...Um, okay..it's a bird...That's interesting. I guess." Shawna said.

Ron scoffed. "It's boring as bricks, that's what it is."

"Hey! Be nice." Shawna said.

Jazz looked over the inscripted words beneath the bird drawing.

"..The author knows a lot about this entity." She slurped her smoothie. _"And if I'm correct, I'd like to think it's_ _the Phoenix bird...the bringer of my misery."_

"What tells you that? He could be making this garbage up as he goes along to rake in loonies." Ron said.

Jazz grinned. "Sir Ronald, are you calling _me_ a looney?"

The boy smiled. "No. Our teacher is for making us read this dumb book."

He took out his tablet and showed Jazz and Shawna a list of notes.

"Pretending that any of this is true, let's look at Ferrier's 'facts'. That section of the book gives info on this so called powerful, mystical bird, the Bennu."

Jazz nodded. _"Historically, that bird is described as a form that the Phoenix took."_

"Ferrier says the Bennu has power of the ancient Egyptian Sun God, Ra..." The boy went on.

 _"..Yes. Ra's power was from the sun itself. So intense heat was a necessary energy source for him and his successor, the Bennu. To maintain their health and attack in battle, the Bennu would have to rely on the sun. Without the solar energy, the bird was at its weakest."_

"Then the author wastes time estimating the Bennu's life span." Ron said.

 _"..A bird said to have lived for five hundred years, singing a song to praise the sun god. But after they make a trip to Egypt to deliver their egg full of their ashes, the bird sings one last song to the sun to be burned in flames, reborn, and restored."_

"Okay Mister 'I Know Everything', what's all this review for anyway?" Shawna asked.

"... We have the test next Thursday, Shawna."

She gasped. "Are you kidding me?! I didn't know we had to study for that part too.."

"It's stupid, right? Mr. Langshan said we have to remember every detail about the legend of the Bennu too since it's technically a chapter in the book." He said.

While those two had a meltdown about an upcoming quiz, Jazz submerged herself in another chapter.

She flipped a page. _"...So Jackson Ferrier wrote a whole chapter detailing the existence of some supernatural beings this Phantomhive kid dealt with...why?"_

Quickly, she looked at the previous page. _"It said here, 'A rebirth of a king, despite losing all his pawns, and knights...A being crossed him to retrieve the infinite soul of the divine, but mortal being...This power nearly destroyed an entire city, but it released the fiery tension of a being at odd with their fate."_

Jazz rubbed her chin. _"Mm...If that's not an invitation for me to ask questions, then this is the worst plot to an adventure ever."_

Ron took the book and looked over the chapter.

Shawna sighed. "Why can't we ever learn about normal stuff?"

Jazz yawned. _"...School is boring enough as it is, learning about normal stuff would just make everyone drop out."_

"You know, maybe you're onto something with this author." Ron said.

"Huh, what are you talking about?" Shawna asked.

"I just looked over his bio page, and it looks legit. He's a Holiday graduate at the college over at Dingberry Avenue." He said as he passed the book to Jazz.

Jazz nodded. "...I'm planning an interview since he's near."

"Wait, why? Just copy Ron's cheat sheet." Shawna shrugged her shoulders. "I'm gonna do it."

Jazz stuffed the book back in her bag. "No...I need other answers."

"Well be careful. I don't wanna hear some story on TV about a girl named Jazmine getting offed by some axe-murderer author or something." Ron said.

Her eyes widened.

Shawna punched him in the arm. "I can't believe you! You're actually telling her she SHOULD go? And then you say that?!"

"Hey, I just tell it how I see it." Ron said.

"Well you need a new prescription because nobody's-

"Hey everyone gets a little dangerous living in this city for too long. I'm just saying she should be alert." Ron said.

"Or..better yet, we can go with you!" Shawna said cheerfully.

Jazz frowned. "Hm?..."

 _"As fun as the idea of possible death is with minions by my side, I don't want them in my business. If I'm going to find out how to get this bracelet off, they can't be there..."_

"-..Did I mention I was allergic to possible death? I-I feel like people kind of forget that…" Ron said as some sweat beaded down his head.

Shawna smirked at him. "What's the matter Ronny, you chicken?"

Ron rose up from the table, pulled up his pants, and straightened out his beanie hat.

"Ha, yeah right! Ron Hayashi doesn't chicken out...Unless there's a marathon of cartoons on. Then I'll chicken out to the TV."

Shawna chuckled; her and Jazz promptly got up from the table. The group had spent quite a long time there, that restlessness in their legs ached at them surely enough.

Jazz crossed her arms. _"At least I can count on Ronald being the most 'rational' of the group."_

While the children stretched their legs, an olive skinned man mosied on over. Once he kneeled to their level, they looked into his thick-rimmed spectacles. Jazz for whatever reason felt compelled to run her fingers through the man's smooth black hair, taking notice of the grey strands that popped up ever so often.

He took both her hands and kissed them. "Aw, you leaving me already sweetheart?"

She smiled sweetly, nodding. _"If I hang around here any longer, I'll turn into a cheeseburger...Really."_

The girl is suddenly pulled into a hug...and she reluctantly hugged him back.

"Alright, but call me when you get in the house. And don't go playing with the toilet again 'cuz I can't a find a plumber to-

Shawna and Ron can't help but laugh, this absurdity seemed to amuse them so but our heroine remained confused as ever.

She pulled the man away. "...Daddy, I don't do that anymore..." She squeaked.

 _"..It was a failed experiment, after all! Certainly nothing to laugh at either."_ Her face pouted.

Jazz's father kissed her on the cheek. "Sure, sweetie."

She and her classmates waved goodbye as they exited the diner.


	25. Not the Best to Work With

Welcome back everyone! I'm glad you have returned to hear the rest of the adventure. Let's dig right into this one! Back at the Phantomhive manor, Mey-Rin, the maid was performing her usual duties: wiping down the staircase rails, sweeping the floors, and doing laundry for the whole household….Well actually, maybe it wasn't all that usual.

Mey-Rin was in the middle of folding a bed sheet when she decided to wipe a bead of sweat from her forehead. She groans. _"It is most difficult- yes, it is!"_

She places the cloth in a basket. _"..I suppose this effort is well worth praise, though. The Young Master will be pleased."_ Her lips curve up into a smile.

Mey-Rin exits the laundry room moving a cart filled with clean sheets. As she moves down the hall, she looks over the cart. _"Mm, let me see, yes? I have the Young Master's, Finny's, Bard's, Tanaka's, Miss Azmin's,- Mr. Sebastian didn't have any sheets…"_

She blushes. "...Mm~ I bet he would be so great in be-...Ah!"

Mey-Rin covers her mouth.

It appeared Sebastian was walking her way.

Panicking, she attempts to hide behind the cart of laundry. "..My god, did he see me?!" She thinks aloud.

"Why yes, of course." Sebastian says.

"Ah!" Mey-Rin screams.

As a reflex, she jumps and knocks herself back against a wall.

"Honestly.." Sebastian says.

He moves the cart out of the way and helps Mey-Rin up. "These shenanigans you and the other three indulge in take too much energy to solve."

"Uh,-um..hehe. Apologies, yes..yes." Mey-Rin mumbles.

"Speaking of losing energy, you seem awfully in need of rest as of lately." Sebastian says.

The maid wipes more sweat from her head. "Eh?! No, no, no! I am perfectly able to complete my duties, Mr. Sebastian sir. Don't you worry an ounce!"

"I'm not. What concerns me are tasks not being completed. The Master has a relative visiting him this afternoon and I need you four to be on task." Sebastian says.

Mey-Rin nods. "Well,...I don't want to disappoint you or the Young Master, but perhaps.."

She clasps her hands together tightly.

"Perhaps?.." Sebastian asks.

"Perhaps, you could find Azmin for me?" She sighs. "I-I do not wish to point fingers or anything of the sort but,..I had asked her some time ago to help with a couple of duties. But I cannot find her anywhere."

Sebastian crosses his arms. "And she hasn't done what you asked?"

Mey-Rin looks away from Sebastian, frowning.

"Mm. I see.."

The butler moves closer to the maid. "Mey-Rin~" He says in a smooth voice.

She blushes. "Ah-a-ah...Mr.-Mr. Sebastian.."

"You've done a good job. Please continue the work, my dear."

As Sebastian leaves, his shoulder brushes up against Mey-Rin's, and she nearly falls over. She lets her face fall onto the sheets on the cart.

She is left drooling at the mouth and breathes deeply into the sheets. "Hehe, he touched me.." She says, dazed.

* * *

Jazz and her racoon partner were wandering around the Phantomhive manor. It was a new day and it seemed that the rest of the Phantomhive servants were going about their household duties, making her absence nearly unnoticeable. So instead of working, our heroine decided to take an opportunity to contact Grim Reaper William T. Spears. Before, she was interrupted but today she intended to make some progress!

She hugs the walls beside her, and daintily dashes her way towards the phone. Unfortunately, stealth is not a skill people naturally have. It is practiced. Let's just say, Jazz was not well practiced in it herself.

One careless leap into the air, her skirt sticks to the front of her boot, and she plummets face first onto the wooden floorboards.

"Ow!"

Roger falls along too, landing on her head. "Geez Louise, Jazzy! You trying to let everyone know we're here?"

She dusts herself off. "Oh shut it."

Jazz clutches her skirt. "See? This is why I like pants. You can kick butt in pants. You can _dance_ in pants. But you can't do anything that requires movement in this friggin' shower curtain dress."

Roger shakes his head. "Excuses, excuses."

 _ **PEW!**_

Something fires past Jazz and Roger.

She flips backwards and slides behind a corner. _"Holy cheese, what was that?"_

"Aw, geez! That stupid Italian monkey is back for revenge!" Roger whispers.

He peeks out from the corner, but another bullet strikes near.

 _ **POW!**_

"Ah!" Roger yells.

Jazz makes her way down the hallway. As she looks behind her, she almost catches a glimpse of the attacker, but they hide themselves in the shadows before firing once again at her. At the end of the hall, she finds herself in a dead end. The only item in the room is a vase with a set of arranged flowers inside.

"Ah, blast it! We're dead!" Roger yells.

 _"We're not out of options yet. There has to be a silver lining here."_ She points to the vase.

"...Uh, Angel..That's a freakin' bowl of useless plants!" He shouts.

"It's what's behind it."

She takes out the golden paintbrush from her bookbag and paints a small circle behind the vase. Once the circle melts the wood, they roll inside the hole and cover it up using the vase. Roger gets ready to speak, but she motions for him to be quiet. She presses her ear against the wall and listens in.

 **More seconds of silence..**

Roger lets out a heavy breath. "Man, oh almighty. I thought we were goners. Good thinking with the brush, Jazzy. I almost forgot."

Jazz takes her ear off the wall and observes the area: dark, smelly, and damp. It didn't take a genius to see where they ended up.

"Ugh. A bathroom, huh?" Jazz says.

"It's better than a grave." Roger says.

She sighs. "I'm starting to regret doing this. I mean all I need to is to make one stinking phone call. Is that so hard to do?"

"Only when you're us." Roger points to the door. "Let's pack it in, Jazzy. We're gonna have to do this later I guess."

"..Yeah, you're right. Jazz says. _"What I want to know is who was shooting at us? That shouldn't be normal for this manor..then again, I haven't been here long so.."_

She opens the door and starts walking down the hall.

After a careful look around, she turns to Roger. "Let's not make a scene or anything. So no talking."

"Wait, is this because of the whole "not showing your face or talking" thing?" Roger whispers.

"Shh! Yes, now quit it already."

 _"I'm not great at proper introductions, but I'm not allowed to wear that mask anymore so I'm going to need to not scare these people."_ She frowns. _"-And since Phantomhive knows I'm a liar, everyone else will probably be..-"_

As she walks, Jazz notices Mey-Rin resting her head on a cart of bed sheets. A trail of drool drips onto the girl's boot.

"What the? What's Mr. Magoo doing here?" Roger asks.

"Shh!...and I don't know.." She says, grabbing at the sheets. _"-but I do know one thing. I'm definitely in big trouble."_

Suddenly, Jazz and Roger are smacked in the head with a frying pan.


	26. Working Relationships Are Hard

Finny, Bardroy, and Tanaka huddle together in the lounge room. Our heroine is knocked out on the couch and her raccoon partner is in a small cage, fidgeting in his sleep.

"I'm getting real sick of this rot, guys." Bardroy groans. "Now, can anyone explain to me what the devil is going on 'round here?!"

Finny is watching Roger in the cage.

"Finny!" Bard shouts.

"Mmm?" The gardener's eyes remained on the raccoon.

Bardroy gestures at the girl. "How was I the only one to notice this?"

 ** _purrrrrr..._**

Finny giggles at Roger's purring. "And what's that, Bard?"

Bardroy pulls him away from the cage. "There's a little girl here sneaking around the manor!"

He points to Roger. "And she brought in some bloody talking rat!"

Finny gasps. "Oh my!"

"Finally! I thought I was the only one taking this serious-

"Can it really talk? Is it magical?"

"..." Bardroy cannot utter words.

"Ho, ho, ho." Tanaka says.

 _ **Creakkk!**_

Sebastian enters the parlor room.

"What are you three-

His attention immediately falls onto Jazz, a very young child, who is slumped over the couch with a wicked lump on her head and the unconscious raccoon in a tiny cage.

"Exactly what has gone on in here?" Sebastian asks.

Finny grabs the cage and points to Roger. "Hey Mr. Sebastian, Bard says it's a magical raccoon! You want to see?"

"Hey, hey I didn't say-

"I was referring to the child sprawled onto the couch as if she fell into a coma, but please do go on about the magical rodent." Sebastian says.

"Oh. Ok! Bard says it can talk, but I think he might be hallucinating again." Finny says.

"I'm not! That's the same blasted rat that caused the explosion the other day! And I'm not imagining it!" Bardroy yells.

"Enough! I've had enough of this nonsense." Sebastian says.

Finny and Bard stiffen up.

"Ah, well..about the girl then." Bardroy begins.

Sebastian pinches the bridge of his nose. "Yes?"

"We don't know who she is or what she was up to, but I saw her lurking around the manor. She was getting close to the Young Master's office so I acted quickly to stop her. Do you recognize her by chance?" Bardroy asks.

The butler looks at the girl and frowns. "No, I do not. Thank you for at least being sensible in assessing the situation." He takes out his pocket watch. "Mm, and it seems the guest will be arriving any minute now. How quaint."

"Should we take her to the second guest room, Mr. Sebastian?" Finny asks.

"Yes. I'm afraid I'll have to inform the Young Master of this small problem. I want you both to escort the child and this creature to the second guest bedroom at once. After you do that, lock the door and continue on with your duties pertaining to our guest." Sebastian says.

"Yes, sir." Bardroy and Finny say.

"Ho!" Tanaka says.

* * *

Ciel is standing behind the front gates of the manor, occasionally looking behind him.

He huffs and starts tapping his foot. "That butler….Tch!"

 _"How can it take this long to prepare breakfast? Utter nonsense!"_

Ciel sighs. "Ah, well there he is."

Suddenly a carriage pulled up outside the gates.

"Mm, a visit from your uncle. It has been a while, hasn't it?"

Ciel glances at Sebastian, who suddenly appeared by his side.

He slams down his cane, angrily. "What game are you playing, dog?"

Sebastian smirks. "I am unclear on what you are referring to, Young Master."

"You had me wait out here while you and those fools mucked about." Ciel says. "I'll have to come up with a proper punishment for this tardiness, Sebastian."

The butler nods. "Would you find it hard to believe if I told you I already have one?"

He walks ahead to open the front gate.

 _"...What?"_

A man emerges from the carriage. Despite the slight breeze outside, his blonde hair refused to move; it was slicked back with some type of lubricant. The beard he wore however, was loose and flowing against the wind. Overall his presentation was as fancy as his expensive suit and matching top hat.

"Hello, young nephew! It is always a joy to see you." He says.

He attempts to hug the Earl, but the boy shook his hand instead.

"Mm. You certainly look well fed this time around. I assume you've been traveling again?" Ciel asks.

The man laughs. "Goodness, you're as rude as ever!"

Sebastian bows and walks ahead of the two. "If you would follow this way, we have a fine breakfast prepared which consists-

"I thought we would check out the garden first." Ciel turns to the man. "Uncle Chlaus, we have some light entertainment for you this morning."

Chlaus smiles. "Entertainment? How lively!"

The Earl smirks at Sebastian. "Or has something happened to change these plans?"

Sebastian's eyebrow twitches. "Of course not."

He clears his throat. "Right this way."

Sebastian leads the two in the direction of the garden.

* * *

In the hallway, Bardroy and Finny are carrying Jazz and Roger.

Finny pets Roger's tail. "Tee-hee! Aw, look at 'em Bard. Ain't he so cute?" Finny asks.

He shoves the cage in Bardroy's face.

"Ah!" Bardroy swats it away. "Get that bloody thing away from me!"

Jazz starts waking up, but her mind is too foggy to collect her thoughts.

Finny frowns. "I still don't see why-

"I told you! That thing is a monster! I say we ditch him in the rubbish bin in the kitchen."

The gardener gasps. "B-B-But,...he hasn't really done anything, though."

"Finny, I'm not going to say it again. He-

The two reach the door to the second guest bedroom.

"Oh, we're here? Alright, let's get 'em in there so we can get back to work."

Bardroy puts Jazz down and lays her against the wall.

"Come on, out with the keys." He says.

"Eh? I thought you had them!" Finny says.

Jazz rubs her eyes and the back of her head. That lump really did a number on her skull...

"Ugh! Finny, now I have to go all the back to the lounge. Uh,-...She's awake?" Bardroy asks.

The two men kneel to get a closer look at the girl. When her eyes finally settle, she sees them clear as day.

She notices Roger in a cage, and gasps. "Let him out!" _"And what the heck are they doing with him?"_

Finny nods. "Oh, alright!" He gets ready to open the cage, but Bardroy stops him.

"Oh, no, no. We have some questions for you first, pipsqueak."

She groans. "Mr. Bardroy, please it's me." She says, trying to lift herself up, but quickly falls back down.

Finny and Bardroy tilt their heads. "Uh,...How do you…?"

"...It's me. 'Azmin'." _"Do I really look that different covered up? I mean they could still see my eyes."_

"Ah! You can talk?!" Finny and Bardroy scream.

The two help Jazz up and pet her head, repeatedly. Much to her annoyance, the sore on her head feels worse and worse as they touch her.

But when she tries to get away from them, she nearly falls and Bardroy has to keep her steady.

 _"And could they not do that screaming thing?"_ She covers her ears.

"We're really, really, really sorry, Miss Azmin!" Finny says, .

"Yes, we had no clue! I thought you were a spy or something- I-I really got carried away!" Bardroy says.

Jazz grabs at the cage, and slowly backs from the two. "Okay...well, I'll let you think about that while I,.."

She looks around. _"-While I go somewhere else...Yeah."_

Finny grabs her by the arm, and she is pulled back into his chest, harshly.

 _"Ouch!"_

"Hey wait a moment! We have to tell Mr. Sebastian, Mey-Rin, Master, and Tanaka about this!" He says.

"Hey.." Bardroy taps Jazz's arm. "Where are you off to in such a hurry? You were unconscious not too long ago."

Jazz groans. _"This whole getting 'knocked out thing' is getting old, Narrator...though, I guess this means I should be more cautious. I won't always get lucky when I wake up."_

"Mm..so this is the real you?" Finny asks.

She nods.

"Hmph. I can't imagine a sprout as little as you working here. You should be with a mother picking out toys or something." Bardroy says.

"Yeah...and we've never had a child working around here before. The Young Master would have told us." Finny mutters.

She rolls her eyes. _"Oh come on! It's not that unbelievable...unless these people are **that** paranoid."_

Bardroy points at her. "Say, how can we be sure you're the real Azmin?"

Jazz turns away. _"I guess you can't if your master didn't let everyone know..."_ She sighs. _"And it looks like I'll have to find him."_

"Hey! You're not leaving yet!" Bardroy yells.

The girl walks away, and the two servants chase after her.


	27. Trust We Are Building

Outside in the garden area, Mey-Rin was relaxing in a hammock.

"Mm, these bed sheets really are comfortable,-yes!"

She smiles. _"Maybe they won't notice this wee break I'm having."_

Thinking of that butler, a strong blush surfaces on her face. _"He even said I was doing a great job, so that effort must deserve a break, yes?"_

Humming a tune to herself, it slowly lulls herself asleep. However, right as Mey-Rin drifts off, a large shadow appears above her. When it gets drastically dark, and she lifts up her glasses only to see a big canine!

"AHHHH!" she screams, falling right out of the hammock.

Jazz suddenly emerges from the backdoor entrance, bolting at full speed.

 _"I've got to find that Earl! Maybe if he sees me, he'll tell these psychos to leave me alone."_

Unfortunately as her anxiety took over, she tripped over a flower pot, cut her leg, and fell down. The cage holding Roger flew out of her hand and landed on Mey-Rin's head.

"Oh, man..what the?" He says.

"Ah! It's the rat! Get away!" She yells.

The maid runs, tossing her head back and forth but all it manages to do is repeatedly whack Roger against her face.

Blood trailing down her ankle, Jazz twitches. _"You see ladies and gentlemen? This is why skirts don't work."_

The girl limps over to Mey-Rin and tugs at her skirt. "...Um, excuse me Miss-

"Ah! Help me!" Mey-Rin screams.

Then she falls on top of the young girl.

...

 _ **HELP!**_

...

Some time later, the gentlemen of the manor hear their cries and come to the rescue.

Bardroy and Finny, who had Little Joe on his leash, arrived to find Mey-Rin with Roger in a cage stuck to her head, suffocating Jazz. Eventually, Sebastian led Ciel and his uncle Chlaus to the same area. They all were running towards the girls.

"Damn it all, the cage is stuck on her! " Bardroy says.

"No worries. I can help!" Finny steps forward.

The gardener punches the box, scaring the living daylight out of the other men. Thank goodness that his punch didn't harm anyone.

As if by magic, the cage breaks into four separate pieces. The raccoon and maid were free at last!

Sebastian helps Mey-Rin up and dusts off her hair, which was now covered in raccoon fur. But lifting the maid, reveals Jazz underneath, looking squashed as a pancake.

 **BARK, BARK!**

While in Finny's grasp, Little Joe becomes excited at the sight of the girl.

"Jazmine!" Ciel exclaimed before immediately helping her up.

"Uh...'Jazmine'?" Finny, Bardroy, and Sebastian asks.

"And just what is the meaning of all this nonsense?!" Ciel yells.

While Finny isn't paying attention, Little Joe licks the girl's face.

Bardroy and Finny look dumbfounded.

"Oh...Hey Bard, looks like she really was Azmin." Finny says.

The chef falls to his knees. "...Be quiet, Finny."

"Oh, I haven't seen your face around before!" Chlaus points to Finny. "Or hers either...Are they new?"

"Yes, Uncle. Finnian is my new gardener and groundskeeper. Jazmine is my new maid and artisan." Ciel eyes Sebastian.

"My butler seemed to have forgotten to introduce the two." He smirks.

Sebastian frowns. "Mm...Right. My apologies, everyone." He turns to Chlaus. "And I dearly apologize for the trouble it caused on your visit here, Sir Chlaus."

"Mm? Don't be so down!" Chlaus chuckles. "You promised me a show, and I say I damn near got the best of one!"

Ciel sighs. "I was hoping for something more classy, but I suppose there will always be another visit."

"I expect you have a new game for me. Let's travel inside to discuss this."

...

After the Earl and his uncle left, the Phantomhive staff chose to remain outside, deeply embarrassed by today's shenanigans. Even with their best efforts in making sure their Master's meeting went smoothly, they each had a role in today's ridiculous display: from not thinking before acting, to misunderstandings not being followed up, and then avoiding the simplest solution.

Naturally a pragmatist and rationally minded person, Jazz felt that the way she handled something as basic as re-introducing herself was...stupid. And so, when she found herself at fault with a dilemma caused by her social ineptitude, she would ponder..and ponder...

The girl looks over the mess...the maid's face was scratched, hair broken off in places. And her animal partner's fur was wrecked beyond belief, he looked rabid. Then the two other men, excluding Sebastian, had stained themselves with sweat chasing her around the place.

"...Well this went south pretty quickly. And yet, we did something kind of great so.." Bardroy says.

Sebastian crosses his arms. "And just what part of displaying yourselves as wild, circus performers and harming a child was as you say 'great'?"

"Hey, the bloke said he enjoyed it, didn't he?"

 _"...He thought it was...a performance?..I guess that's bad."_ The girl thought.

Finny pets Jazz's head.

"...Ah, so this really is the real you!" He says.

"Mm, yes! A wee little one, you are~" Mey-Rin says.

The young girl avoids their gaze. "...I'm sorry...about this."

Sebastian shakes his head. "My dear, what caused this was not simply the actions of one person. As much as it bothers me to say it, how we responded to today's 'events' is most likely the reason for this mess."

"And that's what I mean. We tend to mess up every now and again, but..." Bardroy smiles. "It comes out alright."

She grimaces. _"Oh well that's nice. This stuff must happen all the time to have such a nonchalant reaction."_

The girl notices Mey-Rin's appearance. _"...That's weird, she's barely reacting to those cuts..."_

Bardroy brushes the dirt off of Mey-Rin's shoulders. "Hey, you alright there?"

The maid smiles and nods, still showing that clumsy demeanor of hers.

 _"...Although, maybe that proves it. If these guys regularly wreak havoc as colossal as today, then they're probably tougher than they look."_ She rubs her chin. _"..Interesting..."_

Sebastian pulls out a handkerchief and wipes away the sweat from the girl's head. "Ignoring the circumstances of how this occured, I must say...it is wonderful you decided to show yourself to all of us, little one."

Everyone smiles.

"Quite so! You were always so quiet and distant, I'd worried you'd never want to talk the whole time. He rubs the back of his neck. "And sorry for how I treated you back there. Y'know with the frying pan and all.."

Jazz nods. "..Okay...I'm sorry too. Again."

Sebastian holds out his hand. "Welcome to the Phantomhive manor, again. Young Jazmine."

* * *

Later at night, the girl and the raccoon sit atop the Phantomhive manor's roof. Tonight the moon was going through another cycle, and she couldn't pass up an opportunity such as that, for her work constantly kept her from much leisure.

"...So they know what ya' look like." Roger mumbles.

"...Yep." She says.

He sighs. "So much for being incon-spics then."

She shakes her head. "Roger, it's not the end of the world."

"But ya' said-

"My nonna says when her cover is blown during a mission, the best thing she can do to recover is distance herself from those suspicious of her."

"..And your grandma says this works..how?"

Jazz points to the moon. "People are complicated, but you can always control what you show to them."

"They knew that I was quiet...but now they know I can speak." She frowns. "They didn't know how old I was...but now they know I'm much younger than they thought."

"And don't forget about Ol' One Eye. He knows something's up; that you probably ain't poor."

"Yes...but with all these things they know, I can control what they don't know."

She lies on her back. _"My nonna says she sticks to a role, and doesn't stray from other's expectations when she's on a job. And that's just what I'm going to do."_


	28. Harassment and Strangeness

In the Phantomhive manor's gardens, Jazz plays in the yard with Little Joe. She had a small green tennis ball and was playing catch. Roger was lying in a small flower bed, blowing Dandelions. Despite raining the previous night, this early afternoon was a warm, unusually sunny day especially for fall.

"Heya, Jazzy." Roger calls out.

She looks over at the raccoon after tossing the tennis ball to Little Joe.

"Yeah fuzzball?"

"When you think Four-Eyes will get here?"

The girl shrugs her shoulders as she waits for the dog to return.

 _"...I'm still not sure if our message will even be taken seriously."_

Nearly a month ago, Jazz had made a poorly thought out decision to attack the heck out of Ciel's previous dinner guest Damian. Then the day after her confrontation with the three musketeers, she finally had the opportunity to contact William T. Spears. Of course it was late when the girl had called, thus he didn't pick up. However, a receptionist at the before voicemail, and the like..but that doesn't entirely mean Jazz's message will be overlooked…

* * *

A blonde woman with orange rimmed glasses sat at a desk, and held a telephone in her hand. She had a pen, and tapped it repetitively against the edge of her desk.

"With whom do you wish to speak with?" The receptionist asked.

"A reaper.-

"Do you not know their name?" She questioned, unintentionally letting a yawn escape.

Jazz stood tapped her foot repeatedly, and looked around the telephone room cautiously. If any of the staff were to catch her out of bed long past her bedtime, she'd be in big trouble. Even bigger if they knew who she'd spoken with.

"Yes...why wouldn't I?" She said.

The receptionist sighed. "Darling, please be brief about it. I don't have all day and it is nearly the end of my shift!"

The girl rolled her eyes. _"Yes, poor you. An immortal slave to the schedule."_

Roger jumped up onto Jazz's arm and grabbed the phone.

"Hey watch it lady! Don't think we can't find you bi-

Jazz snatched the phone back before the raccoon could finish that obscenity.

"I beg your pardon?!" The receptionist shouted.

"Oh, sorry about that! My uh,...little brother took the phone for a second." She said.

The receptionist looked up, noticing some reapers headed past her desk.

Having enough, she slammed her hand on the desk."I don't know how you mortals got ahold of this number but you must call some other time!-Preferably when I'm not working." Her eyebrow twitched.

"I want to leave a message to a Mr. William T. Spears.. Do you think you could do that for me?" Jazz asked.

"Fine. You can begin." The receptionist said.

"I am a human girl who has been asked by the American Director of Personnel Divisions to stop a boy named Ciel Phantomhive and his demon Sebastian Michaelis. He explained that they are threatening the existence of important beings and the Grim Reapers Dispatch. Please make sure he gets this and comes by the Phantomhive manor. I'll be there."

...The receptionist stopped writing.

"Wait a moment, if what you are saying is true, I think that I would at least know about it." She groaned. "I swear if this is some kind of practical joke-"

The raccoon grabbed the phone again.

"Hey, and add 'And the girl's amazing partner will be there too." He turned toward the girl. Say that, Jazzy!"

The woman stared wide-eyed at the paper in front of her, and started writing again.

"Right…..Good night."

… _.._

* * *

Jazz sighs and looks up at the sky. "I hope that lady at least gave him that stupid message."

"Well I hope something interesting happens soon cuz' this place is lacking the action I crave." Roger says.

She sits down. "So that slimy Italian meatball didn't satisfy your hunger for destruction?"

"First off, all we did was scare him- and second, that wasn't even close to our daily quota for destruction." He says.

Little Joe comes back with a rose in his mouth, instead of a ball!

"...Little Joe, what..in the name of Zeus..is this?"

Suddenly the butler appears.

"'In the name of Zeus?' Really now?"

The girl looks up, seeing that 6ft tall butler smiling generously at her.

She tenses up at the sight of him. _"I forget, I need to be on full alert with this supernatural around. They'll rip you apart without hesitation..."_

Roger leaps over in front of Jazz, attempting to shield her.

"I know I've said this before, but it is quite a delight to see all of you for once. But why a child like yourself would wish to hide such features at all?"

 _"There he goes asking questions again..."_

Jazz turns to pet Little Joe, and he licks her face.

Sebastian scowls. "Miss Jazmine?"

She turns to face him again. _"Hm, I wonder what bothered him all of a sudden.."_

"The Young Master has requested your presence in the lounge room. If you would please follow me.. _without_ your animal friends." He says.

Sebastian stretches his hand out to the girl, but she just stares at it and moves past him. Roger clutches onto Jazz's leg as she's walking away, climbing onto her shoulder. He looks back at Sebastian, making an ugly face.

The butler is quite puzzled.

* * *

Inside the lounge room, Ciel is sitting in a chair across from four interesting folks: an Asian man with a beautiful woman on his lap. But her dress was very revealing, especially by Victorian standards. To the right, there is a redheaded woman wearing a fancy red suit to match. And next to her is a brunette man with round spectacles and a long ponytail; he shuffles around nervously as if he'd seen a ghost. Then there was the Earl. Ciel looks annoyed as usual, but it seemed that his guests were the ones causing him a migraine this time…

The butler arrives shortly with our heroine at his side.

Roger looks around. "Psst! Jazzy, you think these schmoes are here for the circus?"

Jazz grins. "As fun as that sounds, I'd say no." She whispers.

Ciel and his guests turn around, noticing Jazz and Sebastian.

While the redheaded woman sees the raccoon atop the girl's shoulder she can't help but frown, however the Asian man looks intrigued by such an unusual sight.

"Here she is Young Master as well as..-

Sebastian pulls out a dining tray. "-more tea for everyone."

Underneath the cloche was a teapot, three teacups, and some sugar in a small pot.

Ciel smiles. "As expected. Good work, Sebastian."

The boy's eye focuses onto the girl. "Jazmine, come here. I'd like to introduce you to some associates of mine." He says before taking a sip of tea.

"See Grell? Look at that! Now that is how a decent butler does his job." The redhead says.

The girl hesitantly joins in the Earl's circle of colleagues.

 _"So this is his posse?"_ Jazz crosses her arms. _"Funny, I imagined he'd fit in better with grumpy, older guys."_

"Ooh, such a young, new face~ Where has the Earl been hiding you?" The Asian man asks.

Jazz looks down, sheepishly. "...He's been keeping me prisoner in the basement for months." She mumbles.

Everyone is surprised.

"...That was a joke. I'm new."

The Asian man grins. "What a dark sense of humor.." He looks at Ciel. "How can the Earl control himself?"

The boy glares. "What are you trying to suggest?"

He turns to the girl. "Jazmine, forgive Lau. He always seems to say the most ridiculous of things at inappropriate times."

"Tis' a curse of the mind, I say!" He goes on. "To say such truths..."

Ciel clears his throat. "Anyway, Lau here is a nobleman, and branch manager of the Shanghai trading company Kong Rong."

Jazz waves. _"Nice to know I can spout off as many bad jokes as I want around him...though maybe I should just keep my dumb thoughts to myself."_

"And this is Ms. Angelina Dalles,-

"'Madame Red' as I prefer, thank you!" She says, smiling graciously.

"..Yes, Madame Red is a well known female doctor in London, and she is also my lovely aunt." Ciel smiles.

Madame Red waves. "Hello there little lady! I read a lot about you in the papers, and I must say you are quite fortunate to have a person such as Ciel caring for you."

The girl's heart wants to leap out of her chest. _"...I'm in what?!_ _"_

Lau nods. "Ah yes. 'The Times' and 'The Daily Telegraph' published stories didn't they?"

Sebastian takes the Times newspaper and shows the article to the girl.

She frowns.

The article read, **_"Owner of the Funtom Corporation expresses interest in not only entertaining children, but taking care of them as well. On September 12, 1888, Earl Ciel Phantomhive initially arrived in London to donate his company's services to others in the area, but he took it upon himself to also adopt a child from one of London's local orphanages, The Paddington Home For Displaced Children. The owner, Ms. Devra Webb, praised the Earl for his generosity,_**

 ** _'After all the misfortune we've had, we were blessed with his compassion!' She said._**

 ** _-but is she possibly the more generous one in this affair? Webb claimed before the adoption that the adopted child named 'Azmin' had shown ability in constructing devices such as a toy rabbit, which the other children affectionately named 'Harry'. There is little doubt that this child's interests in the development of playthings will influence Earl Phantomhive's future expansions...-_**

The girl internally crumbles. _"...At this rate, I'll be unable to hide my birth certificate from these guys...Blast it!"_

"Yes, I indubitably agree! You are indeed a gem for the Earl's company." Madame Red chuckles. "And just how are you enjoying working for my cute little nephew thus far?"

Sebastian attempts to contain a chuckle.

The girl looks away. _"Sure. It is an honor to work for your 'cute, little nephew'...Is that what she expects me to say?"_

Ciel blushes. "Ugh! Could we have one conversation without belittling me?!"

When the raven haired butler approaches Lau with tea, Madame Red begins 'fondling' his rear, rightfully startling the black clad servant!

"My, my! You sure are a handsome fellow. If you were my servant I would never give you a rest~ Of course you would certainly be paid handsomely! Hehe, want to come work for a young, 'generous' lady such as myself?" Madame Red asks.

Roger smirks. "Man...that butler's lucky. I wish I had a smokin' hot broad like that rubbing on me~"

The girl gags. "Ew...but you're an animal." _"...Is it even possible for them to be attracted to humans?"_

"Pbbt! Ya' think I care? I'd take any pretty chica..." He stares at Jazz.

She sneers. "You're on thin ice, mister. Now stop being disgusting."

...

"Madame Red, please stop harassing my staff." Ciel says.

She stops and giggles. "Oh goodness, I'm sorry. I guess it was just my doctor's instinct to um..make sure of his physical health."

"Man, this broad is pervy...I like it~" Roger whispers.

Jazz scoffs. _"Really? He needs to stop. It's so creepy."_

From afar, Lau signals for Jazz to come closer to him, his permanent smile disturbing her. She hesitates at first, but eventually walks over to him. He looks her up and down and touches her hand. Jazz is caught off guard and the next thing she knew, she was sitting on Lau's knee!

"Ah!" She yells.

"Say Earl, how much are you offering for this little one?" Lau asks.

Everyone is shocked...but Sebastian has that strange look in his eyes.

"...She's not for sale….Ever!" Ciel yells.

"You sure?" He sniffs her hair. "She has some assets on her that would have her succeed better in say, a different career~"

Jazz jumps off his knee, and lands next to Sebastian. He grabs at her arm, possessively.

 _"What's he doing?!"_ She forces her way out of his grasp, but Madame Red gets ahold of her.

She pinches the girl's cheeks. "You monster! How could you even consider buying this poor, poor child! She's so innocent, ….-" She glances at Roger. "-And rough!"

While Madame Red continues to argue at Lau, Ciel slowly rises from his chair and starts heading out the lounge room. Sebastian follows after him.

Jazz and Roger are left in the middle of this..uncomfortable..arguing.


	29. A Harsh Realizations

Sometimes you have bad first impressions and they eventually get straightened out later. So you could potentially come out of a conversation with a new friend or at least an acquaintance...then sometimes you don't get that. Instead, you forever have a negative idea about someone that never gets a chance for resolve. Well this kind of happened with Jazz.

After Madame Red chewed out Lau for his perverted behavior, she decided to have a personal "talk" with Jazz about it. The two females and Madame Red's butler Grell stand near the outside gates, for the two were preparing to leave.

"-So I hope you don't have any wild ideas about Lau and I. We are simply people who care significantly about Ciel and his business." Madame Red says.

She nods. _"...I'm guessing that's all they care about based on how he treated me..and how I'm getting a lecture on why I should accept this type of stuff."_

"Great! And remember, men generally enjoy playing with women's feelings by giving them compliments or 'aggressive' gestures as Lau approached you..But you don't have to give in! The good, honest men prefer an innocent acting, pure spirited lady. They'll think they have to work to win your heart!" Madame Red says.

She scoops up the girl's face. "Mm...your left side is your good side, but thankfully for a face like this you won't be that limited by this~" Madame Red says with a grin.

 _"...Did she just say I'm lucky to not be **that** ugly?"_

The flirtatious Madame chuckles as Grell opens the carriage door for her.

"Bring great success to my nephew's estate, deary!"

Grell closes the door and hurries over to the front of the carriage, but as he rides off he gives the girl a strange look. It relieved her that it wasn't similar to the raven haired butler's usual gazes towards her, but it was not something she could decipher well leaving her not at ease.

She sighs. "...why do guys have to be so weird?"

"Pbbt! If somebody threw me onto their lap outta nowhere, they'd be more than just weird." Roger says.

"No, not Mr. Lau." She points at the road. "That guy...with the glasses. He barely said a word the whole time we were in there, and he just looked at me like I was...off or something."

"Jazzy, we see a lot of weird crap, but I gotta say you know we probably are a bit off compared to most!" He says.

She looks down. "...That is the vibe we bring, isn't it?"

The raccoon shrugs his shoulders, uncaring of his supposed "strangeness". And just as the girl makes her way back into the manor, Roger's ears perk up.

He jumps up and down on her shoulder.

"Ah! What's your problem?" Jazz asks.

"A phone! I think it's ringing!" He yells.

"...I know you're an animal, but sometimes I have to use a megaphone to tell you dinner's ready, so excuse me if I doubt your 'super raccoon hearing'."

"Man, would you check it out already?! If I'm wrong, I'll sneak ya' some cupcakes." He says.

"...And if you're right?"

He smirks. "I get to hold it over your head for all eternity! Haha!"

"Hmpf! Deal." She says.

...

Jazz hurries inside the house, running up the staircase and into the halls towards the phone room, but she is soon stopped by Bardroy and Mey-Rin. The two are for whatever the reason standing around, the maid holding a net and the chef carrying some dynamite. The gardener silly as always, was wearing a giant mouse costume and dancing around, trying (but failing) to imitate the animal's squeak.

"Hey, shh! Quiet yourself! Finny's close to catching the rats!" Bardroy says.

 _"...But you just yelled at me.."_ Jazz shakes her head. "...I heard the telephone."

"Eh? I don't recall it ringing, no, no." Mey-Rin says.

She looks at Roger, smirking in glorious victory.

He facepalms. "Last time I make a bet..."

Jazz nods. _"Mmm, well this certainly proves something about raccoons' hearing...It barely exists."_

She begins walking away.

"Wait, Jazmine we need help! Are you leaving?" Mey-rin asks.

Jazz stops, regretting the decision to walk up here...

"...Mousetrap?" She asks.

 _"_ _Or better yet stop jumping around like a maniac, scaring them, and just lay out some food for them? Mice aren't dumb, but also aren't without their weaknesses.."_

Mey-rin and Bardroy take a moment to process the suggestion.

"Mm. I don't know...That sounds like it could take too long." Bardroy says.

"Yes! Mr. Sebastian cannot know we still have not solved the problem, yes!-I mean no!" Mey-Rin says.

The girl shrugs her shoulders, seemingly at a loss negotiating.

 _"If they think so…..but this isn't going do anything except give the rats more reason to stay hidden. Like an insect or even birds, undomesticated creatures use instincts to guide them away from danger, including humans who want to capture, murder, or hurt them. There is no debate that a trap be used...unless they have poison to be sprayed."_

Impatient, our heroine walks over to Finny and tugs on his fake mouse tail.

He waves. "Oh hi Jazmine! Hehe, you have your furry friend with you~"

Jazz tilts her head. _"Yeah...he's always with me. All the time...I guess this guy really enjoys seeing animals."_

By putting a halt to the gardener's loud movements, everyone could more clearly hear the mice. All eyes go towards the three mice scurrying past. Instantaneously, Finny grabs at a statue nearby and slams near the mice, causing them to scatter once again.

The girl gasps. _"Guy, what..in the name of Zeus..is wrong with you?!"_

"Finny! We finally found them!..." Mey-Rin yells.

He smiles sheepishly. "Oh..um, I guess I overreacted a little, huh?"

"Ahem, let your champion handle this one, Angel." Roger whispers as he jumps off Jazz's shoulder.

Roger lands in front of the mice, and signals for them to stop.

"Now hold on there, boys! I know this is a little crazy, since that blonde bulldozer tried to murder ya' but I swear, the kid means well. He wouldn't hurt a fly...on purpose." Roger says quietly.

"Ah! Oh no! Another rat!" Mey-Rin yells.

Finny gets ready to throw another statue, but a gloved hand prevents him.

The hand of course belonged to Sebastian Michaelis, and along with that casual smile of his was a dark aura surrounding the area.

"Uh...Uh-um..Hi, Mr. Sebastian?" Finny spouts.

"What exactly is going on here?" The butler asks.

"Um, look! We took care of that rodent problem, why yes we did!" Mey-Rin says pointing to the mice.

Jazz picks up Roger, and he crawls onto her shoulder.

Then she grabs the three mice. _"Right. Because we definitely didn't just screw this up or anything..."_

"Yep! We nailed it, so you don't have to worry!" Bardroy says enthusiastically.

Sebastian kneels to the girl.

"Oh really? Is that what was happening, Jazmine?"

She nods. _"..I learned my lesson about getting into shenanigans with these three, but I don't like this demon thinking he can scare me or them..."_

"Hm, well if that's true then I must say- and I never thought I'd say this, but nice work all of you." Sebastian says.

The three Phantomhive musketeers get all teary eyed and hug Sebastian. His face cringes at their contact, understandably so considering that they had used all their energy on catching rats to the point they reeked of sweat and cheese.

Jazz inches away from their strange hugging circle and heads off down the opposite hall. When she sees the grand staircase, she slides down the railing and quickly exits the manor. The farther away from those other servants, the easier her mission would be.

Outside, the mice are set free, and roam outside the Phantomhive manor grounds.

She shakes her head. _"It's good what happened there. If you give a demon an inch, they'll think they can walk all over you. Good on them for taking credit."_

Jazz's previous smirk resurfaces when she faces Roger again...and he tries his best to avoid her stare.

"You know..it's so nice to have minions to bring me sweets~" She says.

"..Shut up. I swore I heard something ringing! Or least a loud noise somewhere." He says.

"Relax, I was only kidding. You don't have to get me anything."

"Then what's with that face?"He asks.

"What? My smile?"

Roger nods.

She shrugs her shoulders. "Don't know. I just feel like a happy bug bit me, I guess."

The girl scratches the raccoon's ear and he purrs, affectionately.

* * *

Jazz arrives back at Little Joe's dog house. It had seemed like ages since they were here this morning, but of course it has only been a few hours.

However, when the two look around, they discover something strange...the dog was not there.

The girl kneels at the dog house and finds Little Joe's leash cut; scratch marks in the grass around the dog house were the only signs he'd been around and these markings were fresh...but it could it have been Little Joe?

Her eyes almost pop out of her head, shocked. "Roger,...I-I think...Little Joe ran away."

"What are you getting worked up about, Angel? Just do your thing..you know, looking for clues. Then I bet you'd find that pooch!" Roger says.

She hesitantly nods. _"He's right...I shouldn't let this get to me, but I don't want anything to happen to him. I still feel bad about what happened to his owner. It was out of my control..."_

The girl looks at the ground. "...We at least owe it to Joseph to take care of his dog until we find him a better owner. So that means, we got to get to work locating him. No question."

"Darn straight. We can find him, Jazzy." Roger says.

He pats her on the back and looks around the area.

...

Once he finds something, he tugs on Jazz's hair.

She looks. _"Hm? Are these..footprints?"_ She sighs. "These prints could suggest multiple things. I don't want to assume-

"We need something to go on, Jazzy. Let's make some guesses." Roger says.

"Guess about what? That Little Joe was taken? That's ridiculous. Why would someone steal a dog?"

"Maybe Schmoe Joe belongs to somebody else. Maybe somebody saw him and wanted him!- I don't know. All I's see is that these footprints there mean someone was here long enough to make a mark." He says.

She shakes her head. _"Fine. Let's assume someone took this random dog."_

A closer look at the footprints reveals something to the girl. "Wait, these imprints are large, meaning it's probably men involved."

"Okay, so what kinda shoe is it?" Roger asks.

 _"Hm, I don't have a good eye for men's shoe wear especially for this era..."_ She rubs her chin. "...if I had to guess..maybe a Madison lace up ankle boot?"

She frowns. _"But if it is, we're dealing with some dognappers who have fancy taste in shoes, and that just makes less sense to me. What would nobles or middle class want with some random dog they found on someone's estate?"_

The girl continues following the trail, and sees that it does not lead out away from the manor, but actually around the windows of the manor.

"..Actually, maybe this is bigger than Little Joe." Jazz says. _"Of course they weren't only looking for the dog...it was something inside!"_

"Bigger than the pooch? How?" Roger asks.

The trail of heavy footprints end in front of a row of windows overlooking the garden area. There is a brown arbor on the side of the house, and Jazz notices there are some dents and bits of mud on it.

"..Oh. Mr. Phantomhive."

"They got Ol' One Eye?! Aw geez!" Roger yells.

"They must have climbed up and taken him...let's investigate a little closer." She says.

The girl quickly scales the arbor and sees the open window. She enters the office and finds that it has been ransacked.

Roger jumps off her shoulder, and runs over to Ciel's desk, which was now turned over. "Geez...Louise!"

Jazz looks around, carefully. _"I can't believe this...what were they looking for?"_

"There's gotta be some clue about the mooks that took our mutt and Ol' One Eye. It's gotta be!" Roger says.

She joins the raccoon, looking around the papers on Ciel's desk.

The girl stops when she finds a letter with a red wax seal on it.

"Whoa, that looks important. What's it say?" He asks.

 _"Hm, 'My sweet little boy'?..."_ Jazz smirks. _"Okay I allowed myself one."_ She shifts back into serious mode.

"Anyway, it seems like someone in Mr Phantomhive's circle has been found out to be uh,..a drug dealer? And at this point, one of his warehouses have received the drugs so..-

"Ha, I knew it! I knew that little pirate was bad news!" Roger exclaims.

"-So, it would seem he was the dealer," Jazz puts down the letter. _"However, it doesn't look like it would be Mr. Phantomhive. If he were the actual dealer and the Queen were aware, wouldn't she have him arrested? Or a better question is, why would she send him a letter asking him to turn over the drugs? No dealer would ever agree to that, and no doubt face consequences otherwise, but Phantomhive isn't dumb enough to make that kind of mistake, is he?..."_

"...The Queen has requested to him that the drugs be brought to the government." She repeats aloud.

"..Uh, yeah?" Roger says.

"...If Queen Victoria had so much trust in Mr. Phantomhive, she wouldn't have bothered with this letter asking that he turns over the drugs. What I think is more likely is that Ciel is in association with the real dealer and the Queen has requested he disassociate by turning in the drugs, which would reveal the identity of the dealer."

"...And you thought that from reading this crap?"

She looks through more papers. "By the Queen requesting him to bring the drugs to the government, she is essentially asking him to betray one of his associates. and I may not know him personally, but I did read about how he was dedicated to satisfying the Queen's wishes, never betraying his allegiance to her."

"Yeah, yeah so murdering and torturing people's mighty fine for the Queen lady, but not selling drugs?" He asks.

"I know, right? The whole 'controversial era' thing is coming up again. But I think he only does those bad things to fulfill the Queen's wishes and protect his company's standing."

She stops points to his desk. "But let's think about this a different way. If he sold drugs to the communities of Britain through smuggling them into his factory, he'd be less likely to get caught. By having complete control over the operation and the many factories, he'd have a better orchestrated way to sneak in narcotics."

"You say all that iffy stuff, Jazzy but where's the hard fact proving One Eye not guilty?"

"How about the fact that he's missing? And based on the state of this office, I'd say kidnapped." She says.

"Ah, I think I get it! So do ya' think the real drug dealer took him and Little Joe?" He says.

Jazz puts Roger on her shoulder. "Oh Roger, you just love reading my mind."

...

She walks out of Ciel's office, and hurries to her room. Inside, she looks in the wardrobe for her active wear.

Roger sits on the bed and looks at her open book bag. "So how we gonna find 'em? We don't even know the dealer or where he lives."

Jazz dashes into the bathroom and dashes right out, dressed for adventure.

She hops on the bed, and pulls out the book from her bag. "Now that's the easy part. Ferrier may not have focused so much on who Mr. Phantomhive interacted with, but he did list some names and some minor details."

The girl starts flipping through pages of the book. "See? This talks about his aunt on his mother's side- no picture though. So there's Madame Red,..." She flips some pages. "-and Lau." She looks on the other page. "That lady, I guess is named 'Ran-mao'?"

Jazz continues flipping pages and Roger stops on a page. She inspects it, and notices it has the recurring words, 'drug' and 'shooting'.

She reads. "Good call Roger. It looks like the alleged dealer is named…'Azzurro Vanel'.

 _"Hm, I think the Tacinelli family may have associated. My Nonno told used to tell me and Michelle stories about some Italian drug lord who died a mysterious death…..maybe that wasn't this guy...I hope."_ Jazz shudders. _"Nonno has some weird stories sometimes, I swear."_

"Well, we got a name..now all we need is an address." Roger says.

"Yes. Too bad Ferrier wouldn't write something like that in. But there has to be some letter Phantomhive received from the man. Anything! They worked together, or at least communicated on some things. Maybe we have a chance." She says.

The two head out the room, ready for action.


	30. A Sweet, Fiery Reunion

Where we left off last, Jazz and Roger discovered that Ciel Phantomhive and Little Joe were missing. During their investigation, they deduced it to be the work of an Italian drug dealer named Azzurro Vanel. Right now, our two adventurers walk outside the Phantomhive estate's gates, moving deeper into the forest area.

While on Jazz's shoulder, Roger holds in his paws the book, Aristocratic Oaths Broken.

"Roger, can you put that back in the bag? It's really starting to weigh down my arm." She says.

"No way Jose! We're starting to piece some stuff together with this do-hickey. We got his name, and we got a piece of mail with his address! If one of us actually reads this entire thing, we could have a head start when it comes to taking down Ol' One Eye." He says.

"..Can you read?" She asks.

"Duh, I can! I helped us out when you were flipping these pages like a madman!"

The girl takes the book, and points to a word on a page. "Okay, what's this word?"

Roger looks closer, and nibbles on his paws. "Uh..b-beasst?"

She smiles. "Mm-hm."

Jazz points to another word. "And this one?"

"...fire?" Roger asks.

"Close..but it's actually flame." She pets his face. "It's nice to see you have been learning."

Jazz scratches under Roger's chin and he purrs. "Maybe I'll try teaching you some more later."

She hands Roger back the book and he continues reading.

"And you might have a point there. It would have been useful to have read some of this before I met that creep." She says.

"You talking about that crouchin' tiger, hidden dragon guy?" He asks.

"No..yes,..j-just nevermind."

Roger jumps into Jazz's messenger bag with the book still in his paws and flips more pages. As they approach the more the upcoming forest are, the girl notices that around them are many burned patches. The ground they were walking on and some of the trees nearby are a smoking charcoal black color. There's also claw marks on most of the trees in close proximity to the burned areas. _Could it really be such a simple coincidence?_

She looks behind her. _"We're in for a ride, aren't we?"_

Roger looks up from the book. "Heya, what's the problem?"

Jazz narrows her eyes and walks closer towards the trees in the forest.

"Um, hello?" Roger asks.

She continues walking closer, and touches a burnt patch. Immediately, a wave of pain strikes her hand.

 _"Ow! It's fresh...What could cause this? I mean was blazing the forest not too long ago or something?"_ Jazz says.

"Huh?" Roger says.

He jumps out of the book bag, and onto Jazz's shoulder to look around.

"Oh lordy..every single tree 'round here is burnt to heck!."

 _"Most of the burned patches range from high onto the trees down to the middle...If it was a person, they' would have had to stand on their tippy toes to burn with such intensity on these tall trees..."_

 _"Wait!... **'flame'**!"_ She takes the book from Roger and flips back a few pages.

"Roger, it's-

Jazz is unable to finish. She looks above and before her was a gigantic white cloud of fur heading straight for her. The girl dodges to the side and leaps backwards to avoid the oncoming impact, but her book falls out of her grasp and there's no time to get it.

 **WHAM!**

Chunks of dirt fly in the air, sprinkling- or should I say crashing down near Jazz and Roger. She tries to evade the brick of dirt that comes toward her, but gets hit by two clumps.

 _"Ow!...what's next, a falling ice cream truck?"_

While not an ice cream truck, three trees surrounding her inconveniently break off at the roots, tumbling over her. She thrashes her way through clumps of dirt and leaps out of the way of the falling trees. As they come down collapsing, the girl hops onto a nearby tree that was a safe distance away from the damage.

Her and Roger look around, cautiously.

Roger sighs. "Man, that was a close call."

 _"No joking. I've never felt so scared in my-_

She looks down. "Hey! Where is it?"

"Where's what? My heart?" He coughs up some dirt. "Cuz' it sprung outta my chest a long while ago."

"Th-there was a big white thing there and now it's disappeared!" Jazz yells.

 _ **wigggle...wagggle..wigggle!**_

The tree starts shaking back and forth.

 **Ahhhhh!**

The two adventurers are nearly falling off, so they keeps their grips so tight on the tree that cracks start to form on the bark...

The shaking stops.

"-What the?" Roger and Jazz mumble.

A loud whimper interrupts their brief moment of relief...but there's something awfully familiar about these cries.

Jazz climbs across to the other side of the tree, and looks down. What she finds gives her a fright, causing her to fall off the tree and land on a shrub.

She moans. _"Why can't we ever get a rest?"_

Once taking a moment to regain her energy, she untangles herself from the bush.

Surprise, surprise, a few meters away was the face of that silly, familiar creature.

Jazz grimaces. "What are you doing here?"

The man beast had returned, happier than ever.

Roger clutches tightly to the girl's shoulder.

"Oh jeez.."

The man beast suddenly barks and licks Jazz.

She pushes him away. _"Yuck!"_

The girl can't get off that easy, though. That man beast was determined to receive affection and he meant it.

He runs up to her and nuzzles his face against hers, weeping.

Jazz looks away. "You need to go back to Houndsworth. And don't take this the wrong way, but it's not exactly 'safe' with you around here. Do you get it?"

"What are you doing? You don't talk to animals. He'll never leave! " Roger yells.

Jazz smirks. "...Is that so?"

"Of course!...Now if you'll excuse me. I need a snack after all that action." Roger says as he jumps back into her messenger bag.

 _ **crinkle...crinkle...CRUNCH!**_

The raccoon chose the noisiest bag he could find because the sound drives the man beast on edge...or perhaps it was that the man beast had grown addicted to the taste of artificial flavoring in modern chips? Who knows?

The beast paws at Jazz's back, forcing her to take off her bag and pull Roger out.

He glares at her. "You know, that bit is getting real old, Jazzy."

"I think he wants the other bag of chips." She leans in to the raccoon's ears. "And I think we should give him what he wants before he tries murdering us again."

"Murder?! I thought he liked you or something! What kind of backwardsness is this?!" Roger exclaims.

The man beast growls at the smaller animal.

"Ah! Okay!" The racoon quivers.

The girl hands the man beast a bag of cheese puffs. _"There. Hopefully he'll leave us alone now."_

The beast gleefully tears open the bag, devouring the chips in quite a sloppy fashion.

Roger turns away from Jazz. "Hmph! Traitor."

She rolls her eyes and begins looking around for her book.

"What ya' doing now? Looking for another bag to give to that failed werewolf?"

...

When she finally finds it...a tree appeared to have fallen on it.

She stomps her foot. "That's just great. My book is a pancake now."

"Wait, you gotta have something to help us out here. Like..." Roger begins.

He starts looking in Jazz's bag, pulling out a large number of strange objects.

Jazz sits in front of the fallen tree and touches it. Her golden cuff bracelet rolls down from under her jacket sleeve, and it glows.

She rubs it and flinches. _"Bajeebs! This thing really has a force to it."_

The girl looks to her partner, Roger, but notices the man beast has appeared beside her.

"Ah! Don't do that~" She yells while poking at his cheek.

The man beast licks her hand, and she wipes it on him.

Jazz waves. _"Um okay, Mr. Dog Man. Hi."_

Pluto barks.

"...Okay, from what I last read, your name is 'Pluto', correct?"

The beast nods.

"Okay, I want to move this..but I can't do it. Obviously." She brings his hand on top of the tree. "So, uh...could you maybe help?"

She looks at the beast's nails. _"He is a supernatural after all..."_

Pluto suddenly grabs Jazz's hand.

"What? Hey! No-

Her eyes illuminate, gold as the sun! Her whole body begins exuding a peculiar, yellow aura. What energy was manifesting inside our heroine? Where could it have surfaced from? And how could it help?

The beast maintains his grip on the girl's hand, and with their combined strength the fallen tree rolls forward with ease. Haha, there it was. The book is free!

The beast lets go of Jazz's hand and licks her face, affectionately, but she didn't take any notice of it. No, her mind was too razzled at the moment to be aware of anything but the hasty pounding coming from her chest.

As her eyes stop flashing, she reaches her chest.

 _"Whoa. Did that just happen?...I...I never did that before."_ She turns to Pluto, blushing. "...Thank you."

Jazz cautiously looks over her left hand, and her bracelet. _"...It's happened again now. This creature has a connection to this artifact..but what, and more importantly why?"_

The girl still a bit dazed, grabs her book and dusts it off. _"Questions will have to be researched later. For now, we can get back on track."_ She sighs. _"Osiris will want to know about this too.."_

Pluto nuzzles Jazz again, but Roger steps in between them holding a holographic device in his paws.

"I hate to break up the love fest going on here, but I think I just found our game-breaking item for today!"

She gasps. _"...I'm an idiot! How could I forgot about the virtual map finder?"_

After taking the device from him, she smiles. "It's always good to have a map around."

"...A map? Aw, I thought we could teleport outta this dump and just go back home!" He says.

Jazz shakes her head. "Roger...you do know if we go home now we'll die, right?"

"..No fooling?"

She nods. "Besides, what happened to that determination you had for finding Little Joe?"

Roger points to the fallen tree. "It lept outta my chest when I thought I'd die by trees..." He glares at Pluto. _"-or that freak..."_

The girl shakes her head once more, disappointed. "...Anyway, with the virtual map finder, I can configure it to simulate an entire map of London. It highlights locations and features details too. It's the perfect solution."

"Um, hello? We got his address already. What good is that virtu-map-thing now?" Roger asks.

She turns to the beast and pets his head; he rubs up against her in excitement.

"This guy should be capable enough."

Roger's face cringes. "Him? How's he gonna help?"

"Easily. He's a demon hound. These supernatural hounds have the ability to change between their dog and human form at will. In his dog form, he's big, strong, and fast enough to help us get to that Azzurro man's place."

"And you can't just trust a taxi, doll?"

She is dumbfounded. "..There aren't any taxis in Victorian-

"You know what I mean!" He yells.

Jazz "Listen. This creature can get us there in a cinch, and then we can save Little Joe." Jazz turns toward Pluto. "Now, could you please change into a dog?"

The beast looks down, saddened.

She picks his head back up and caresses his face. "Come on~ If you do this for me, you'll get a little treat."

Pluto snorts and turns away.

"Okay, okay...You get a huge, big treat! But you have to change. It'll only be for a little while, I swear." She says.

The beast begrudges, clearly still displeased with being in his larger form. Yet he honors the deal, transforming into his gigantic, white furry wolf-like form right before their eyes. He lowers his head for the girl to climb on. and she mounts onto the beast's head.

He then immediately takes off, jumping quite high into the sky and speeds away.


	31. Jazz Truman to the Rescue!

Pluto soars through the air like a dove, but when he descends it could rival an earthquake! Thanks to the lovable beast's efforts, Jazz and Roger are briskly making their way to Azzurro's house. During this temporary "flight" through the air, she oogles over her invention.

Roger was clinging tightly to the girl's arm, his teeth chatter uncontrollably.

"I-It's f-f-reeeezing! C-can y-you g-get that thing t-to slow down?!" He shivers.

"..If you're cold, warm up in my bag." She says.

He groans. "That's it? You ain't got some crazy gadget to make it a little more toasty?"

The girl's brows furrow. _"What is he expecting? We're likely going 110+ miles per hour, traversing through cold, wet clouds during the fall season!"_

Roger leaps in Jazz's bag and peeks his head out a bit.

"-And you still didn't say what the deal is with that do hickey there."

She pulls out the device. "It's simple. This 'do hickey' is the virtual map finder tool. Its technology allows me to type in information on an area I'm unsure about, and then generates a simulation of what the place probably looks like based on time, the location, and other things around."

He sticks his head out to see. "Wait, so how's it work? I don't get it."

She taps the map and the screen projects a hologram of a map of London. Jazz touches an area and zooms in. The location appears to be Ciel's estate and the forest surrounding it, but the manor has been destroyed.

"Whoa! What's up with that?" He asks.

"Look here. When typing in 'London', year '1885', and searching with 'Phantomhive', you get a projection of his manor the year it was burned down. But if you type in '1888' for the year and instead, search with 'Azzurro Vanel'-..." She types on the device.

The hologram shows a large mansion surrounded by a few trees, and no surrounding estates.

"-I get a visual of his house and if I zoom in even more, we'll get an idea of the layout for this place. Maybe we can even scope out the area with this to find the two." She says.

"...You think the dog'll be there?" Roger says.

Jazz exhales slowly. "Your guess is as good as mine's."

"Yeah, it must stink not having all the answers, no matter how many gadgets you cook up to get it."

She looks up into the sky, noticing how close they are to the atmospheres. "It's not all bad. That's the best thing about being a scientific person. You never know everything, so it makes you have to experiment."

He smirks. "Wow..that's kinda artsy fartsy sounding for you, Einstein."

"Oh please. I'm no Einstein. I'm more like the guy who made Frankenstein."

"...nutty and obsessed with death?"

She nods. "That and...I kind of like having work to do..."

 _"But I'd sure welcome a break from putting my life on the line for people all the time. I'll leave the hero stuff for the mutants and guys in capes."_

* * *

"Heya, what's the gameplan for Little Joe once we find him? I don't hate the boy, but I ain't exactly a connoisseur of pooches." Roger says.

"After losing his owner like that I think he deserves to be sitting by a nice, warm fireplace with someone that can care for him." She says.

"Hmm, you're awfully sweet now. What's up with ya'?" He says.

She looks down, the ground below shifts in perspective as they move up and down.

"It's just...I've never felt more terrible than when I saw what they did to that man. I barely know him, yet it hurts to think that he'd still be alive if I just avoided him completely."

She rubs her side. _"...And I wonder if emotional pain can become physical, because I'm not exaggerating when I say it **'hurts'**..."_

He frowns. "See? I'm getting to thinking we're bad luck...but I guess Ol' One Eye takes the cake on that one."

"...Him? Phantomhive's luck is meaningless at this point. He has that demon butler to protect him." She says.

"Oh dang, I forgot. So that guy's a supernatural, eh? Well ya' better watch out then 'cuz I don't know if all those magical classes that old Egyptian guy taught will protect ya' from that monster." He says.

 _"Well according to Osiris's trainings, the best way to defeat a demon is to use sodium components against their senses...At least, I hope he's right. Being over 10,000 years old might make a person forget certain truths."_

Roger sighs. "Uh oh...I see a house coming up."

She looks down over Pluto's head and sees the mansion. _"Ah, there it is. I guess he fancies himself a fancy guy by the looks of those arches..."_

Jazz tugs on Pluto's ear and he lands onto the ground. In front of them lies Azzurro Vanel's mansion. As could be expected, there are a significant number of guards around with shotguns and fancy suits. Pluto takes cover behind a tree close by.

...

After taking a break to re-adjust themselves, Jazz looks at the map finder again and changes the perspective of the map to show the interior of the manor.

"Alright. So we have a simple layout for Azzurro's place. It looks like this house is at least two stories high, downstairs probably has a big dining area, with a visible staircase above. My guess is..Mr. Phantomhive and/or Little Joe are being held in some type of private room. It could be a cellar, an office, a closet ,an attic, or even a bedroom. And those have to be..."

She points to the upstairs windows on the left side of the mansion.

 _"-Right there on the upper floor would cover most of the rooms I mentioned except a cellar."_

While looking over each space, she notices a problem. _"Ah, I see I can narrow down some." "There isn't a visible cellar in this manor or an attic room. He has a more modern design for the time it appears because most Victorian homes have a basement for storing coal, unless they have an automatic hot and cold running water system."_

Roger looks around, cautiously. "Alright. So how about this front area? It looks real busy with them baddies in the fancy suits. How should we go about them first?"

Jazz rubs her chin. "Based on this security it's safe to assume that the inside will be guarded as well, so we might be able to draw them out with all the ruckus outside.

 _"Then all that's left are the few guards Azzurro most likely has near the private room he is keeping his hostage."_

"Wait, 'ruckus'? What ruckus outside?" Roger asks.

Jazz looks over at Pluto. He gazes back, wagging his tail.

"How about a little help, big boy?" She asks, sweetly.

Pluto howls, and leaps high into the air.

 _ **AHOOOOOOO!**_

"Eh?! Who's playing around?" A guard asks loudly while waving his gun.

The guards at the front of the mansion were looking around for the source of the noise. The day had started out oddly quiet, and being professionals they didn't intend to be lenient with unusual disruptions whether it be from Azzurro himself or the birds playing in the nearby birdbath.

Another guard takes a huff of a cigarette. "I dunno..possibly a stupid dog got loose. Who cares?"

"'Who cares?' I care buddy! I can't stand dogs, and if I get my arse bit by a bloody one, I...I'm gonna lose it!" The other guard says.

The guard with the cigarette snorts and move back to his post, but he notices a shadow above him growing larger and larger in size. When he looks up, immediately his jaw drops.

He runs back over to the other guards. "Uh, Renaldo?"

"What now? You wanna make fun of me again?"

"I think you can lose it now!" The guard says, terrified.

"What?" Renaldo says.

Renaldo looks up and-

 _ **GAHHHHHHH!**_

One hairy beast weighing in at about 10,000 pounds pounces on him and sends him burrowing into the ground.

It's so deep, it could practically be a grave! Renaldo's plummet sends the other guards soaring backwards, crashing against the brick wall of the mansion. More guards come running out of the drug dealer's manor and are baffled to find Pluto, a gigantic wolf like beast standing before them.

Jazz hops off of the beast, leaving Roger behind.

While mid air, she pulls out her lollipop and sucks on it.

It transforms into her hammer right before their eyes. But as they look in awe at the unusual device, the girl plants a heavy blow to the ground in front of them all.

 **CLUNK!**

The strike launches the guards into the air. While dazed, Jazz springs into the air and smacks her hammer into each guard's gut. Then when they each fall, she swiftly smacks each of their heads. The poor guys were knocked out without the chance to react.

"Wait here for sec, and keep Roger safe. I'll give you a whistle when I need backup, clear?" Jazz says.

Pluto leans to lick her face, effectively getting her slimy.

She sighs. _"Maybe I should look for an owner for him too. I'm sure a Tree troll or red dragon Blitzer would love to have their own demon dog to violate them..."_

* * *

Inside the mansion, Jazz wanders inside a large open area; the first thing to draw attention was the long dining room table placed center of the room.

 _"Huh? He has plates set as if he was getting ready for dinner. I wonder if he planned something different for Mr. Phantomhive..."_

She looks carefully around the lower level.

 _..._

When Jazz eventually finds the staircase, she hears this sound..

 _ **Chh-cha!**_

Someone cocked a gun?

On the upper level, rows and rows of guards stand above the girl with their guns pointed at her.

One of the guards re-adjusts his glasses, and puts away his weapon.

"Is this truly happening?...It's only a small girl." He says before going off into a laughing fit.

The rest of the guards take a look closer at Jazz, laugh as well. How could one little child possibly be a threat to anyone? After all, these men were trained killers. Professional thugs who could not be intimidated by much of anything, especially something as cute as a young female...Oh how terrible the realization for them shall be.

The girl sighs. _"...I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this."_

Jazz takes her hammer and twirls it at a support beam under the upper level floor. The hammer crushes a large portion of it, causing the upper level floor to crumble. Some guards suddenly fall off, meeting a bone cracking collision with the marble floor below. The rest of the guards, shocked, don't hesitate to fire back at her.

 _"Uh oh. Didn't bring anything for that."_ She groans. _"...Why did I leave my bag?"_

The unfortunate girl dashes to catch her falling weapon, and runs along the sides of the wall, desperate to evade the guards' bullets. If she's not on the ground, they'll have a hard time aiming, surely?...Well no, not at all.

She glides over towards the opposite side of the room, nearing the top of staircase. The guards now have a clear shot at Jazz, but as she makes it up, she spins her hammer in a rapid twirling motion. A temporary shield is created, causing the bullets fired at her to deflect back at the guards.

 **BANG!**

 _ **BOOOOM!**_

 **KAPOW!**

Bullets fly into the remaining support beams, and the last of the guards fall to doom. Ha, ha! Victory!

...

Her clothing now torn, her hair splattered in sweat, and her lungs begging for air, Jazz survives in time to reach the hallway past the grand staircase she climbed.

As she makes her way down, she finds a simple wooden door, partially open.

Jazz takes a deep breath. _".Right. There's no time like the present….or past, actually."_

She grabs at the handle and opens the door.

Inside, she witnessed the most alarming sight she ever faced….the interior of a disgusting, urine smelling, storage closet.

"Ugh!" Jazz slams the door.

 _"Okay, the first rule of rescuing is to know where the heck they are."_ Jazz sees a double door and notices a sign that reads "Vanel Office".

She facepalms, and opens the doors.

* * *

In front of her stands a tall blonde man with a scar on his eye, cigar in his mouth, and a gun pointing right at her. There is visible sweat coming from his forehead.

She looks over the man, unimpressed. _"You cannot be serious…"_

"Y-you?! What is this? Some kind of joke?! You cannot be serious!" He shrieks.

Jazz swings her hammer back and forth.

"I was expecting a ferocious giant with all that racket, but I get...a little girl?" He says.

 **Gasp!**

 _"Huh?"_ Jazz looks behind the blonde haired man.

Behind him was a boy that was tied up and from the looks of it, beaten badly.

 _"Oh there you are, Mr. Phantomhive..."_ She rubs her chin. _"Hm, I never imagined him so vulnerable. The book hadn't bothered to mention his weaknesses..."_

She walks toward the Earl, but the blonde man blocks her and continues pointing his gun.

Jazz sighs. _"Yes, shame on me for thinking it would be that easy."_

"What do you think you're doing you dumb brat?" He asks.

The girl points to Ciel and gestures to Azzuro, pulling out the mouse shaped piece of gold she recovered from her short time at the orphanage.

However, this seems to amuse the man rather than entice him, and he laughs.

He takes the cigar out his mouth and flicks ashes on Ciel's body. "Bambina, it will take a lot more than that to buy me off of this brat's tail. His single eyelash is worth more than that spazzatura."

Jazz looks down, defeated. _"Okay, so he wants to do this the hard way. Fine, let's go."_

He grabs Ciel and turns him around to have him face her.

The boy's blood dripping from his nose, and the large red handprint on his right cheek said enough about what he had suffered at the hands of this villain.

 _"...Are you telling me that this guy did all this to a little boy just to keep his drug business afloat? Bajeebs, I will never understand criminals. I mean, I'm no superman or anything, but I'd never stoop this low."_ She shakes her head. _"Oh, and congrats on being the best impulsive, petty villain in existence, you toad."_

Ciel tries wiggling out of Azzurro's grasp. "Jazmine, how did you-

He slaps the boy and points his gun at him.

Instead of being alarmed, the Earl only manages to express irritation. How confident this one must be~

"I don't care if you're some kind of super wonder child or a vampire! You're not getting anything so I suggest you give this up now, or I might have to do something drastic." He says with a twisted smile.

Jazz stares blankly at Azzurro and brings her hammer to her side.

"So, what's it gonna be, brat? And don't take forever." He grabs at Ciel's shoulder. "I'm not a patient man!"

She drops the hammer.

The man grins and the boy simply sighs in disappointment.

 _"...You thought that was it?"_

Jazz whistles and soon enough,

 _ **RAWRRRRrrrrr!**_

The cocky drug dealer turns to the window and stumbles backwards at what he sees. Pluto's head is there! Without warning, the beast opens his mouth, and lets loose flames. They engulf Azzurro, and his body goes into shock, preventing him from screaming.

The girl makes sure to grab the Earl to cover him from the blast.

When Pluto eventually takes a break, Azzurro falls over, scarred and skin charred like a Fourth of July BBQ steak.

...

Jazz gets off of Ciel and dusts herself off. _"Well that takes care of that."_

She moves over by the window, and Roger jumps onto her shoulder from Pluto's head. He still had her messenger bag, which could have proven useful but when something doesn't go according to plan, remember it isn't the end of the world...well unless you're Jazz Truman, of course.

In her bag, she reaches for a pocket knife and walks back over to Ciel. _"I have to remember to put this in my pocket...and some other things. Maybe I'll have some time later to tinker..."_

Once she cuts the rope binding the boy's hands and feet, she gives him a good looking over.

 _"Hm, well he doesn't look so bad.."_ She touches Ciel's right cheek. _"-but I'm sure it hurt a lot."_

The girl touches more and more of the boy, looking for something.

 _"It's no good to rescue someone only to have them die of injuries that could have been helped...better keep checking."_

The Earl blushes and swats her hand away. No girl had ever touched him so carelessly besides family, thus this touch felt not only foreign, but rude. And even worse was the girl's expression! She looked so eager, yet emotionless and trance like...surely any person would feel violated..At least he believed so.

Jazz rolls her eyes. _"You try to be helpful..."_

She turns around to pick up her hammer. "...can you walk?"

"Excuse me?!" Ciel yells.

She shakes her head. _"Okay...I guess I shouldn't have asked."_

"H-How could you have done all this on your own? How did you find me? Tell me right this minute!" He shouts.

 ** _Ughhhhhh..._**

The two children notice Azzurro, lying uncomfortably in a pile of ash.

"...One second." She says. _"..I think the pain train is calling for ."_

Jazz walks over to him then slams her hammer against the floor by his leg.

Azzurro shouts fearfully as he struggles to crawl away, closer to his pistol.

 _"These criminals...they just never learn."_ Jazz says before kicking his gun to the other side of the room.

"Ahem, that was over a second. Now tell me everything, and I mean it." Ciel demands.

The girl looks away from the Earl's hostile eye.

 _"Ah!...If looks could kill, I'd be dead the instant he saw me here."_ She quivers. _"..and this is how he treat people who help him? I can only imagine what happens when you threaten him."_

"Are you suddenly deaf? Speak up!" He yells.

"...I don't-

Ciel glares at her, crossing his arms. "As your master, I order you to tell me exactly how you found me, how you did any of this! No more playing around."

 _"...Why does it even matter? He's been rescued, hasn't he? His enemy has been defeated and humiliated, right? So what is the problem?"_

The two are interrupted by the room's double doors being opened. They turn towards the door and see Sebastian standing there.

Once he sees the Earl, he walks over and bows.

He notices Jazz and stands closer to her.

 _"...Go away, you loon."_

"Young Master, I do wish you would tell me when you plan to stay over at another's home because this little 'visit' of yours nearly put your dinner in peril." Sebastian says.

Ciel smacks the butler with what little strength he has left.

The girl's mouth drops slightly. _"Oh wow..I've never seen anyone mistreat a demon like this."_

 _"Granted, it's justified here. But still, these creatures can end you in less than a second if provoked. So this is more proof that these two are in a contract.."_

"Sebastian, this is an order. Finish off that Italian rat over there. And you,-" He points to Jazz. "-we're not finished yet. In fact, when we get back to the manor, I want to have a private talk with you. Is that understood?" Ciel says.

Jazz hesitantly nods.

 _"Oh great. Social interaction...So much for being 'heroic'."_ She looks around the room and frowns. _"And I didn't even find Little Joe. What a waste!"_

She looks back at the window and notices that Pluto has disappeared…

 _"...And where'd he go?."_


	32. Bittersweet

Welcome back everyone to another wild adventure involving Jazz Truman. Listen closely as I detail how she attempts to coexist within Ciel Phantomhive's world of despair and insanity! Although, perhaps I shouldn't sound so cheery this time..there has been a few new developments here and there, and to be frank I'm not sure I can keep up this happy disposition anymore. I haven't outrightly expressed this to you all, but I'm beginning to worry about the events to come in this tale.

Stepping out once again from omniscient mode, _I'm questioning some of the fates of these beloved people I see. And I, like Jazz Truman still have questions that have yet to be answered. What role can she play in the past to influence the future, and when will this become clear. Has anything she has accomplished now contributed to changing her glum future? Only time will tell._

Right now, Jazz was kneeling down by the dog house Sebastian had built for Little Joe. In her hands she held some white lily flowers, while scavenging throughout the garden these flowers seemed fitting for the occasion. As of this point, she had returned from Azzurro Vanel's manor in company of Ciel Phantomhive and his butler Sebastian. After Ciel's wounds were taken care of, he expected her to be present for their private talk, but she intended to stay outside to ponder more about the situation she was now forced to realize.

Jazz stares curiously at the dog house and sighs. _"How could I do this?"_

She looks down at the lilies. _"In less than a second after time traveling, I single handedly managed to cost two people their lives...-well a dog and a person, anyway."_

Roger picks up Little Joe's leash and places it in front of the doghouse

He clears his throat. "You wanna say some words, Jazzy?"

"Stop that. We don't know if he's dead, Roger."

"Then what are the flowers for if it ain't a eulogy?"

Jazz holds the lilies up and rubs one of the petals, the smooth and slightly furry texture pleased her fingertips.

"Lilies symbolize devotion." She looks inside them. "At least that's what Mr. Finny thinks they mean. Anyway, I'd like to think that if Little Joe is still out there, we might find him. If not, well, I think they should mean we won't forget about him and Mr. Joseph." Jazz says.

"..All that searching, and that dog- our Little Joe- wasn't there." Roger grumbles.

He leans on Jazz's leg, and she caresses his ear. Her grip on the flowers get tighter, crushing their stems. When she places the lilies inside the dog house, they magically turn into fire lilies.

She notices this and checks her bracelet.

 _"What in the name of Zeus?"_ Jazz mumbles. _"It's not glowing?...then what did that?"_

 **Plop!...Plop! Plop!**

A symphony of rain begins.

The fire lilies light up the shadowed entrance of the dog house, revealing a messy piece of paper at the very end of the dog house.

When the two try crawling inside, she reaches out for the paper, but something pulls at the back of her jacket, frantically. She scoots out of the doghouse and is greeted by the wide-eyed, blonde gardener. In his hand he carries an umbrella and quickly covers the girl.

She stares at him, her ponytail damp and matted up from the rain. _"...What does he want?"_

"Miss Jazmine, you shouldn't be out here in this weather!" Finny exclaims.

She wipes her forehead with her sleeve and looks back at the dog house.

Finny kneels. "I'm sorry about your dog friend. What was his name?"

"...Little Joe." Jazz says.

"Aw, what a cute name." He rubs his head. "I remember seeing you playing out here with him sometimes. I bet it was fun." Finny says, smiling.

He takes the girl's hand and helps her up, putting his arm around her.

"I once had an animal friend too..She was a wee, blue birdie."

He starts walking Jazz into the manor.

 _"To think that this guy could handle a bird, let alone any small animal. It must have been precious given his strength."_ Jazz looks at Finny. _"..He's smiling..."_

"I used to play with birdie all the time, and she was my..my first for affection." He says.

 _"...What does that mean?"_

The two make it inside and the gardener closes the umbrella.

After taking a look at her, he gasps. "Oh no, we should get you out of those clothes before you catch a cold. They're soaking wet." Finny says before grabbing Jazz's hand again.

"...But the bird?" She asks.

Finny looks away, and then squeezes her hand.

The girl winces. "Ow!"

"Just like that...Birdie went away. I-It was my fault."

She looks at the slight bruising of her hand. _"...His strength both tragic and incredible...What the heck is wrong with me?"_

"I know, I'm a monster."

"...No." She says.

"...B-but I took her life away."

The girl frowns. _"...If it was just an accident, he isn't completely at fault. I mean we're all stepping on ants, slugs, beetles, and plants everyday killing them. But that doesn't make us bad...we're just humans, aren't we?"_

"...You know, I'm not a master of the psychology of avian creatures but I'm sure Birdie knew how much you loved her. Birds have a capacity to understand affection as likely as any domesticated pet." She says.

Finny smiles and some tears start falling down his cheeks. "Thank you."

Jazz tilts her head. _"..Wait, why is he crying?"_

He lets go of the girl, noticing his outfit has gotten damp.

 _"Oopsies, I got you all wet. Sorry Mr. Finny."_

As she touches more and more of the gardener, her mind goes in a daze.

 _"Mmm~ This fabric of his is so pillowy...I could be in it forever."_

Finny blushes. "Uh,...excuse me.." He says before making a mad dash towards the main hall.

Jazz reaches out for the gardener, walking towards the main hall.

 _"...What did I do?"_

...

She shrugs her shoulders. _"Hm, maybe Roger's right. Maybe we are just weird."_

When the girl gets ready to head back outside, a voice suddenly interrupts her.

 **"Jazmine!"**

She turns around and sees that the Earl is standing at the top of the stairs, staring daggers at her. He is still a bit bruised, but looked much better than before.

During his rest, Sebastian dressed him in a large blue robe, but the length of the arms and waist suggest it's a tad too large for the boy's more scrawny shape. Poor boy, he just couldn't look serious if he tried.

Jazz groans. _"Ugh, I forgot. This loonatic wants to have a chat with me...How I miss the days when these guys thought I was mute."_

"Don't even think about going out there! I told you I wanted to speak with you, and I expect you to show up. Now hurry up here and come with me." Ciel says.

The girl walks up the stairs and follows the short tempered boy.

* * *

As he leads her to his bedroom, she abruptly stops.

"Tch! Now what is the problem?"

She looks down. "...your office."

 _"If this boy thinks I'm going to be alone with him in his bed, he's lost all credibility as a nobleman...He's also lost his marbles."_

He scoffs. "Yes Jazmine. It would make much more sense talking with you in the middle of the night in my office."

She reluctantly nods. _"...Point taken..but it's still strange."_

"Why are you kicking up a fuss about this now anyway? You have been in my room before. Remember 'Azmin'?" He says with a smirk.

Jazz looks away, brows furrowed. _"It's different going into a boy's room at night..and not helping them search for their shoes."_

The Earl opens the door and enters.

She peeks in, but still remains outside. _"Mm...this is a good time to run now..."_

He sits on his bed and crosses his arms. "Quit being foolish and come in."

The girl quietly stomps her foot. "Darn _this guy. Why can't he just wait until morning to talk like normal people?"_

She is hesitant, but walks into the room. Instinctively, Jazz chooses to stand by the boy's dresser.

He glances at the door. "Shut it already."

 _"Are you kidding?...This is a violation of privacy...MY privacy."_

"That door isn't going to shut itself. Get to it." Ciel commands.

She closes the door and stays beside the dresser.

This resistance would not stop the Earl, for he believed in being persistent in his efforts.

He pats down a space on the bed next to him. "Come. Sit."

Jazz looks down. _"...Too close."_

"Do you intend to keep that dim witted look on your face? Enough of this insolence."

She could almost feel the fire escaping the boy's breath, and flinches. _"...He's scary when he's mad."_

 _"I better stop wasting his time before he throws me out."_

On the bed, the girl sits a fair distance away from Ciel, he decides to move in closer.

Jazz gasps and scoots away. _"Ahh! Take it back some, kid!"_

"My god, you're ridiculous." Ciel says.

 _"..I'm ridiculous?! You're here half naked, trying to get close to someone you barely know in the middle of the night! If I'm the one being silly, then I'll gladly dress up like a jester and call it a day."_

He grins. "...Hmm..What's going on in that mind of yours?"

Her eyes widen.

"Come now, you can't be surprised given how silent you are." He chuckles. "Even when faced with threats of death you were tranquil, quiet, and resilient."

Her eyebrow raises. _"...is he...being nice?"_

"Ahem. I asked you a question." He says.

She shakes her head. "...Nothing."

"Tch! Don't give me that." He leans in closer. "I know you...you're the type that likes to keep to themselves."

As usual, Jazz continues keeping her eyes on the floorboards, as when she was in conversation with people outside of her family her mind preferred to do more of the talking for whatever reason. Now if only the Earl would raise a topic that interested her...

"-You'll spend most moments in your head because it's safer than letting everyone know your inner, dark thoughts. But what you're thinking isn't something to hide, really. In fact, it's likely insightful."

She fidgets with her hand. _"Well he's not wrong...but I wouldn't call my inner blabbering 'insightful'."_

"I know this because I grew up with someone like that." He says, smiling.

The girl's body suddenly jolts in excitement. _Something that boy said struck a cord, I suppose._ _Or perhaps it was the chills suddenly creeping onto her back from the rain water dripping from her pony tail._

Ciel takes a blanket nearby and wraps it around her.

She shakes, uneasy. "..Th-...thanks."

The boy nods. "I had noticed what you were doing out there." "...you miss your dog, don't you?"

Jazz finally faces him. "...I worry."

"Rightfully so. Bardroy told me that he noticed the leash was cut, but he couldn't see teeth marks. Meaning..."

"...I know. He was taken." She says.

Ciel purses his lips. "I apologize for such terrible events taking place. It's unlike the others to not have noticed such. But I promise you, we can get you another if you wish it so."

He smirks. "And for the sake of my butler, I'd certainly opt for another dog."

Jazz shakes her head. "...That dog wasn't mine." She wipes water from her forehead. "He needed a new owner."

"..Really? Well that's quite a surprise. Though if what you say is true then...it is possible the real owners retrieved the dog. However, by illegal means."

She shrugs her shoulders. _"The problem with that is the owner is dead and even if someone else owned Little Joe, they could have called the manor to request for the dog back, not trespass and steal him."_

Ciel notices the girl's silence, and sighs. "I'm presuming you're more interested in why I brought you here, correct?"

She nods.

"For the sake of privacy, I wanted this to be done in a secure space. You must understand that this is a delicate situation that I am not yet comfortable with the others knowing."

Jazz shakes her head, approvingly. _"Ah, I see. He wanted this to look like I was being scolded so the servants wouldn't think anything of it and possibly listen in. That's why he couldn't do it when everyone was awake."_

 _"I still have to be careful, though. If I say something incriminating, he can use that against me and find out the truth. Then my cover is blown."_

"As I said before, I'd like for you to explain...what exactly happened today and how." He says.

"...It was the dog.." She heaves a heavy sigh. _"It looks like I have no choice. I'm going to have to tell him something...Time to shift into talk mode."_

As she prepares a story in her head, her eyes cross paths with the boy's one eye.

 _"..His eye..It's so big..and...calming."_

Ciel taps her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Ah..yes. I'm sorry,...it's hard to speak sometimes."

 **Pause.**

He lifts her chin up. "I understand. But you cannot be silent forever, Jazmine. You'll find that things get easier when you speak up more often."

She sighs. "...I was afraid I would be asked to leave since I haven't been honest.." "..and I'm sorry."

The boy smiles. "You silly girl...I have no interest in letting you stray from me...and that is why I won't allow it. You proved your loyalty as a Phantomhive servant today when you faced against that terrible man. So please, do not worry about such things."

A small smile graces her lips. _"Oh wow...this kid is really good at making you feel flattered. I wonder if this is his charm? Because if it is, I understand completely why his servants put up with him."_

"Mm, there's a lovely face. I'd like to see it more often~"

She looks away. "...why?.."

"'Why?' Because a pretty girl like you should be smiling all the time."

Jazz looks at the Earl, doubtful.

"What, you don't believe me?"

She rolls her eyes. "...The last time someone said anything about my appearance, I was being called a frog because my eyeballs apparently look ready to 'fly out their sockets.'"

...

Her brows rise. _"...Did I really say that out loud?"_

Covering his crude smirk, Ciel tries to look serious. "Um...that was different."

Jazz shakes her head. "..It was a thought...sorry."

"You see? This is exactly why you should open up more."

 _"Being quiet can be isolating, but at least you keep a lot of dumb thoughts to yourself..._ _"_

The Earl kisses the girl's hand. "And I wasn't lying to you. You truly are graceful."

Before she can react, the boy leans closer and closer to her face…...


	33. Secrets Unfold and More Mysteries Uphold

Ciel's lips wrinkle as he gazes into her eyes. He attempts to raise his hand, but before he can initiate contact she slides away.

 _"...What was he doing?"_

The Earl blushes profusely and turns away.

Alas, despite all those years spent grooming his charisma, Ciel Phantomhive would occasionally have his shortcomings in social engagement. You have to understand his point of view, however. He had discovered that the girl he hired was absolutely brilliant. In her fight against that foolish business associate of his, she had infiltrated his home, confronted him, and easily defeated the man without having to say a word. Such bravery was admirable enough, but there was also a part of the girl that reminded the boy of himself. Naturally there would be some comfort with her presence, but perhaps it was too much?

 _Considering this image of her flooding his mind, I am no longer left wondering what his true intentions are subsequently in this tale...but the poor girl might not ever realize it._

To recover from misplaced forwardness, Ciel smirks and returns his attention to her. "...I suppose we should discuss the other thing I had asked about."

 _How could he easily bounce back from rejection so confidently?_

"Back at that drug rat's manor, seeing you with that hammer had already answered a few questions I had. However, what I am curious about is how you reached his manor at all. I don't know how you would find an address, given that you never met Azzurro. You didn't travel with Sebastian, and from what he told me, you hadn't taken a carriage out to Azzurro's manor either. Care to explain?" He says.

Jazz nods. "Okay...Not sure where to start."

She explains how she came across the footprints in the garden earlier, and how she made deductions that Ciel was kidnapped by a drug dealer through pilfering through letters in his office. Of course she was careful to omit obvious strange things such as owning a book with information about Ciel and the people in his life. Including the gigantic demon hound that was her means of transportation. However, she did say she had some "connections" that helped her to Azzurro's manor.

"Well, that's quite an impressive tale, but how true is it?" He asks.

"...I don't know how I could prove it to you." She says.

...

...

While glancing at the window, Jazz grimaces. _"...Is he just going to ignore that? I mean did he try to...-_

Her eyes then go to the Earl's mouth; soft looking, and milky white. Such frail little things they looked, surely they'd be bruised rubbing against the girl's plump, but crusted, red muzzle for a mouth. She couldn't forget that for a moment those soft lips attempted to claim her own. But rather than discuss it, the boy urged to change the subject. To most people, this made more than enough sense given what happened, but our heroine was not most people. Her mind drew blanks at what would motivate a person to kiss someone they barely knew. He had only known her for about a month, and whenever he tried to strike up a conversation, she wouldn't engage much.

 _"...Maybe he didn't mean that. Maybe he wanted to get something from my face...with his mouth?_

The muscles in her hands relax a bit more. _"And besides, kissing is pretty meaningless when you think about it. All it does is activate some pleasure sensory nerves in the mouth and tongue area. Sometimes primates like Bonobos even do it for no reason at all. Yup. 100% meaningless. So even if he wanted to...it wouldn't mean anything."_

...

"So if I hadn't come...what do you think would have happened?" Jazz asks.

"A servant would have sent for help. In this case, Sebastian arrived as it is a basic expectation I hold for my servants to measure up to." Ciel says.

"..You didn't expect that from me, though?" She asks.

He scoffs. "You're a child! And a newly hired one at that. What sense would it make to expect…-to expect what went on at that idiot's manor?"

 _"Well fair point, I guess."_

The boy gets underneath the covers on his bed, having had enough discussion for the night.

As he makes himself comfortable, she gets off the bed and waits near the door. _"I wonder if he'll ever tell the others what happened."_ She bites her nail. _"Hopefully not. I'd hate it if that demon knew. With knowing how powerful I could be, his senses could drive him to see me as a threat."_

Before she exits the door, she glances at the Earl.

"Jazmine, you've really shown your capabilities today and I'm fairly impressed." He smiles. "Now I want you to rest. I believe I'll have a special assignment for you in the future." Ciel says as he closes his eyes.

* * *

Leaning back against the Earl's doorframe, Jazz stares at her shoes. _"Zeus give me strength."_

But has no time to ponder anymore about what Ciel said...-

 **BOOM!**

She tenses up. _"...Roger!"_

It appeared a lightning storm has started. The girl wastes no time on her way outside; she runs at her top speed down the hall.

She passes by Sebastian, not giving him any notice.

"...Miss Jazmine?" He mutters.

The butler was carrying a lit candle in his hand, and Jazz's phone in the other.

After the girl disappears from his view, he looks at the phone and it reads, **11:42**.

"Really now, what is it that drives young children to stay up past their bedtime?" He says before suddenly vanishing.

* * *

Outside, Jazz looks for the dog house. Be it that it is still raining, her vision is distorted by the pouring rain, and her clothing weighing her down from being soaked once again. Inside the doghouse, is where the racoon lies, cradling the fire lilies since they proved to be the best alternative for gaining warmth.

As soon as Roger sees the girl, he sighs in relief.

"Dang, what took you? I thought I'd die of pneumonia by the time you got back!"

She flips her wet bangs off of her eyes and wrings out her ponytail. "Sorry fuzzball. I had to chat with Phantomhive for a bit."

"Pbbt! More like a make-out fest I bet." He says under his breath.

Her brow raises. "...Let's just get to reading this letter. It might have something to do with Little Joe."

Roger hands her the paper, and she holds it over the glowing fire lilies to read it clearly.

Her head tilts to the side. _"..What is..huh?"_

"What's it say, Jazzy?"

"Okay, this is a first."

"What? What's it say?!"

"It's a riddle and there's a few numbers underlined here at the top of the page. 'Nine-Twenty'."

" **'I know you are searching, and now I know you feel that same sorrow. There surely is an air of anxiety for those who are unsure about other's tomorrows. Without anymore options for recourse, I'll lend you this intimation: the man who once said 'for every action is a counter reaction.' You'll find this name to be the destination.'** " Jazz reads.

Roger scratches his ear. "...What?"

Jazz crosses her arms and stares pensively at the fire lilies. "I'm not sure either."

She groans. _"I'll have to research that later."_

"What the halibut does any of that even mean?!" Roger yells.

"Whoever wrote this obviously want us to find Little Joe..but why leave a strange riddle like this? And if my hunch is right, it's also time sensitive." She says.

"Aw, man even that Stephen Hawking schmoe wouldn't know what to do with this puzzle!..-

Suddenly, three pounding knocks are heard, interrupting Roger and Jazz's conversation. They both peek out of the dog house only to be met with some dark red eyes.

Jazz rolls her eyes. _"Oh great. It's the demon. What does he want?"_

The pale skinned demonic devil was staring them down, but his soaking black hair made him look "sloppy" rather than "intimidating".

His expression remains solemn for a while, eventually changing once he recognizes the figures in front of him.

"Well, well, I never quite thought you were of the canine persuasion, but as usual you waste no time surprising me, **kitten**." Sebastian says.

He extends his hand out to her, but she simply crawls out of the doghouse with Roger. She is careful to place the letter in her back pocket and pull down the back of her long jacket.

Jazz tugs at her pants. _"Whoopsies. I got mud on my pants...Well as long as it doesn't get in the way of adventuring.."_

Sebastian notices the mess and feels inclined to pick her up.

She gasps. _"What does he think he's doing?"_

The raccoon jumps onto his leg. _"Let go of my girl!"_

Roger bites the butler's leg while Jazz punches him in the arm and shoulder. In order to keep her cover, she of course she restricted the force placed in her blows. Unfortunately, this did nothing to sway Sebastian from carrying her.

Ignoring her resistance, he calmly begins walking towards the manor. Being the snarky type, the butler occasionally flashes his smarmy grin to the girl.

* * *

Nearly arriving at her bedroom, the girl decides to stop hitting Sebastian.

 _"Ugh!...I give up. He's not the type to take a hint, so why bother?"_

"Mmm, that didn't take long. It's slightly disappointing since I prefer it when you brats put up a fight. It makes this all the more fun." Sebastian says.

She glares at him. _"What a jerky thing to say. But he's just lucky he's not number one on my list of problems to deal with, otherwise I'd have him beaten up by mutated rats."  
_

"My dear, please do not hold such a harsh expression. When you grow of age, a boy will surely find it distasteful...along with those eyebrows." He says.

She is shocked. _"...Wh-...That's it! This butthead is going to get it."_

He smirks. "I kid of course, young Jazmine."

...Her brain nearly explodes in rage, but somehow it all comes back to her in her mind.

 _"Oh right, I'm such a dummy. He's a demon. Whenever they want to control someone, they use mind tricks on their victims to lure them in."_

The girl closes her eyes, trying to regain her calm.

Sebastian notices her expression. "My, my, you're quite the thoughtful type. It is interesting to find a child so reserved." He pets her head. "...free of meaningless speech."

Jazz is puzzled. _"...Is he..going native? Never in all my adventures have I ever met a demon that actually...likes humans. Until now."_

The butler greatly amused by her silence looks at her, curiously.

When he finally reaches her bedroom, he puts her down gently.

Jazz pulls Roger off his leg and places him on her shoulder. _"Aw boy, Roger probably lost a few teeth digging his fangs into this demon...They're resistant to most physical injuries, excusing chemical attacks from sodium..and possibly lavender."_

He frowns. "I implore you to speak. From my perspective I behave as quite the gentleman, thus I am unsure where your hostility comes from, prohibiting your speech."

She shakes her head."...I'm not really angry...I just didn't ask to be carried."

He sighs. "My dear, you were covered in mug, soaking wet and likely to slip or break an ankle. I assure you that everything I did was to ensure your safety."

 _"...You know the more that I think about it, this is the third time he's tried to trick me into seeing his 'good intentions'. And I've got to give him credit. He really knows how to fool everyone, even people who study his kind for a living."_

The girl's eyebrows furrow. _"...In the kitchen with that explosion, the area of the blast wouldn't have reached us where we stood at the doorway. And back at the library, he triggered that book to fall... All that stuff he pulled were just excuses to get close to me...but what is it he wants? The only thing I've gotten is 'scent', but that's useless._ "

Sebastian kneels to the girl. "Miss Jazmine, would you mind if I ask you a question?"

She nods. _"I should say no, but I'm curious to see how this demon operates with social and emotional manipulation; I could add it to my notes if it's useful."_

"I've noticed over these past few weeks that you and the Young Master may be compatible. Initially, I worried that you being a child would make it difficult for you to connect with the other staff. So my question is, do you feel at ease with anyone in particular aside from the Young Master."

"...But I'm not sure if I like him. He scares me."

He smirks. "No one else scares you, do they?"

She shakes her head. _"No. The only person is that Phantomhive boy, honestly. Dangerous and..unpredictable. And he still doesn't match up with the book, which is my only reference for how to act around him."_

"I'd like to reassure you. The Young Master has a habit of giving the wrong impression, but he very much values his staff." He leans into her ear. "And don't tell the Master I said this, but I believe deep down he shows much relief in having another around his age to connect to."

 _"I'm not surprised...I read in the book that the only real 'friend' he had was a cousin. Other people he interacted with are more or less older adult associates he uses for personal gain...including the cousin I guess. It's probably hard to trust anyone when you've gone through so much and lost everything. Though I have no idea why he'd like a kid like me. We're nothing alike and barely acquaintances."_

"Does knowing this now put you at ease, little one?" Sebastian asks.

"...No."

...

The butler is forced into silence. _"..How amusing this young one is. Without a second thought, she rejects the possibility of trust. Humans truly are fascinating."_

Jazz crosses her arms. _"...Is he trying to set us up on a playdate or something? Why does it matter if he wants a child friend? He can **buy** friends if he's so lonely."_

Sebastian moves a stray hair from Jazz's face. "Well I won't tell the Young Master that, but I-

 _ **Mew, mew, meow, ME-OW~**_

 _"What the cheese? I know that sound!..."_

Sebastian internally groans. _"Right now, really?"_

He quickly turns away from Jazz to check out the sound emitting from his pocket.

 _"Oh no you don't, you dumb weasel!"_

She kicks Sebastian in his rear, and snatches her cellphone from his pocket.

 _"..Idiot."_ She flicks the screen, causing the sound to stop.

Sebastian sighs with relief. "Ah, thank goodness. I had never figured out how to stop that-

Jazz lightly punches Sebastian in the stomach. "This isn't yours."

She huffs. _"..Fat headed thief!"_

"Yes, I know. I apologize for taking your belongings, however that device was making some peculiar sounds in your room...sounds that were similar to a cat. You may not know this, but my Young Master is very allergic to felines, so with concern for his health I felt the need to check your room. When I found this contraption to be the source, I naturally felt the need to confiscate it." He says.

The girl has to resist the urge for her knees to buckle, she was devastated.

 _"..I'm the real idiot here. Nearly blowing my cover over some stupid invention...I swear starting tomorrow, I need to straighten up."_

 _..._

"Miss Jazmine, pardon my curiosity but what is this device you have called? I haven't seen anything like such ever in my years." He says.

Her eyes fixate on the phone. "...I made it. Haven't thought of a name, though."

The butler smiles. "Incredible!" He ponders for a bit before speaking once more, "Perhaps if you told me the intended function I could suggest a name for it."

Jazz scratches her head. "Well..it's a phone."

 _"I hope I don't get into trouble by doing this. Telling people from the past about things that don't exist yet doesn't seem practical given the potential time paradox it can cause...Though if I mention something relative that already exists in another form, it might be alright."_

"...'Phone'? As in 'telephone'? That is humorous, since it seems to have far more uses beyond calling someone." Sebastian says.

 _"Looks like he's already tested out the applications..."_

"What makes this telephone unique then?"

"It's mobile."

He nods. "Ah, I see. That's quite resourceful."

Jazz unzips her jacket and drops the phone down the front pocket of her shirt.

Sebastian looks at her shirt and smirks once more. "Mm~ If you wish to develop, you must drink more milk Miss Jazmine."

Jazz gasps and covers her flat chest. "...Meanie."

He chuckles. "Again I only kid. I'm sure your eventual puberty will sort out the...lack of growth."

* * *

Entering her bedroom, the butler follows.

"...yes?" She waves.

"Your telephone device...as marvelous as it is to use, I ask that you keep it away from the Young Master."

"...It's not a real cat on it-

"That is not the point I intended. It is a distraction that I'd prefer you keep out of sight. You are permitted to use it in your free time, but that shall be it. Understand?

She nods. _"I'm not sure what else he saw, but he definitely saw enough to make him want to keep it on him. And I need to find out what."_


	34. Disagreements

Sebastian grins. "As much as I enjoy your company Miss Jazmine, I have to decline engaging with you any further. It is the middle of the night after all."

"This isn't over. And if you mess with me again I'll make sure you regret it." Jazz says, shaking her fist at him.

Sebastian smiles and exits her room, but as he walks down the hall his smile fades. He heaves a heavy sigh.

"How unfortunate." Sebastian says as he touches his slightly bruised cheek.

 **...**

Jazz and Roger are now sitting on her bed. She takes off her clothes and tosses her phone and the folded letter onto the bed.

Jazz growls. "I can't believe this. He must've seen something. Why else else would he keep it on him?"

Roger jumps onto the floor and shakes off his wet fur.

"Well whatever the reason is, we can't trust him at all...or anyone else, really." She says.

Roger smirks. "What about your boyfriend, 'Ol One Eye the Pirate'?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She says.

Jazz looks at her book bag. "We can't let them figure out we're from the future, and especially not about the book. So let's take some precautions."

Jazz places her phone and the letter inside the bag. Roger finishes drying himself and hops back onto the bed, digging in his ear.

"We're not going back to that serial killer mask thing, right?" He asks.

"No way. From now on, I'm taking all my things with me. That way, it'll be less likely someone just happens to 'stumble' upon my stuff." She says.

"Turning off that phone wouldn't be a bad start either, Jazzy." He says.

"What's with you? You're all snippy and icky."

He glares at Jazz. "You lied to me. You never told me about armpit head putting his nasty mitts on you. Or about anything else going on."

"Why would I? It's not on you if things go wrong. It's always my fault."

"Oh get over yourself, hon'! If I wasn't here, you'd be unsure of anything. We wouldn't even be here if I hadn't asked about that stupid brush thing you cooked up in your lab!" He yells.

Jazz tosses a pillow at Roger.

"It's not stupid. You're stupid! Everything you do always gets me in trouble, and you're too stupid to care!" She yells.

Roger throws a pillow square in her face.

"Well you're a psycho with too many screws loose to know how to act right!"

Jazz gasps. "That's not fair...You don't have to pretend like you're some normal little kid. You can act crazy, make mistakes, break things, and no one ever thinks anything of it!" She says.

"Well that's reality for ya', dumb-dumb." Roger says.

She growls. "That's it."

Jazz and Roger start smacking each other in the face with pillows. He jumps onto her face, causing her to fall onto the floor.

"Ow!" Jazz shouts.

Roger gets off of her and looks at her leg.

"Aw geez, Jazzy. I didn't mean to-

Jazz looks at her left leg. There was a splinter in one of her old wounds.

She grunts. "It didn't heal all the way."

Her wound appears to have reopen, and is red from irritation.

"..I mean how could it? This job has you on your knees as is." Roger touches her leg.

"We should fix this up. It's open and we don't need ya' getting sick." He says.

Jazz glares at him. "Yes, Roger. I mean if I get an infection, who will make you a double-decker sandwich with all the toppings?"

He smacks his teeth. "I'm being real here, Angel. I-...I'm sorry about all that crap I said."

Roger gently pulls out the splinter.

"Owy!" She reaches for her wound, which was now bleeding.

Suddenly, her door opens.

"Miss Jazmine.." Mey-Rin yawns. "Is everything alright?"

Jazz looks at her book bag. "Oh cheeze, the bag's open!" She thinks.

She tries to rise, but her leg gives way.

Jazz whimpers. "No, no, no!" She thinks.

Mey-Rin gasps. "Oh goodness gracious! Miss Jazmine, are you okay?" She says.

She runs over to Jazz and helps her up. Jazz covers up her leg, but Mey-Rin removes her hands. Then a little blood gets on Mey-Rin's hands.

"Oh lord, Miss why didn't you tell us sooner?" She asks.

Jazz looks down at her leg. "..It's fine. I can take care of myself." She says.

"Oh no, we can't have that, no. A wee child like you needs much care, yes!" Mey-Rin picks up Jazz and lays her on the bed.

Jazz pouts. "I said I'm fine." She looks away. "I'm not a baby."

Mey-Rin takes a pillowcase, most likely fallen off from the previous pillowfight.

"You know,..." She frowns. "When I was a young one, I used to think I could do everything alone."

Mey-Rin wraps it around Jazz's leg. "It wasn't that fun, but it's what I had to do." She looks away from Jazz. "If I had known I'd end up doing things like this, I'd...I would have..well nevermind that." She says.

She ties a knot on the wrapping, and gets off of the bed.

"...What did she do before?" Jazz thinks.

Mey-Rin notices Roger is nearby and flinches. "Oh god, it's that thing!" She thinks.

"Uh oh, I know that look!" Roger thinks. He hurries and hides under the bed.

Mey-Rin shudders and looks back at Jazz.

She clears her throat. "It's hard to let go of old ways, yes?"

Jazz rubs her leg. "You didn't need to do that. I was in the middle of fixing it."

She sighs. "That's a 'yes', then."

Mey-Rin kneels. "The Young Master has brought you here to be a part of his home. His life. And we're all a team, yes?" She asks.

Jazz nods.

"We have our differences, but when it comes to one thing we are united, and trusting."

Jazz scoffs. "So there's never a moment you want to strangle Mr. Bardroy? Or toss a plate at Mr. Finny's head?" She asks.

Mey-Rin chuckles. "We've been around each other for two years now. It's inevitable." She says.

She exits the room, but turns her head around. "But I don't hold in my feelings. I let them know, and they help me stop being upset."

And with that, she left.

…

Jazz spent time lying in bed, occasionally patting at her leg. The blood was minimal, but she could still feel some dripping downwards. Roger lies beside her head, purring loudly.

He rubs his nose against her neck.

Jazz sighs heavily. "I don't know what I was thinking...I just let my paranoia go off the charts like that." She mutters.

"It's as natural as any other feeling." Roger says.

"Well, I'm really sorry. I overreacted, and started a fight." She turns to Roger.

"I started the most stupidest fight with the only friend I can trust here."

"...I'm sorry too..." He looks down. "If you couldn't trust me...who could I turn to? A talking raccoon isn't exactly a normal thing people talk to."

She kisses him on the nose.

He nuzzles her neck again. "Angel, I know I'm not exactly a knight and shining armor, but I could help you out more if you just let me in on some things." Roger says.

"I know that, silly. You're like the sprinkles to my cupcake for crying out loud." She smiles.

"But don't worry, I can handle myself." She says.

Roger jumps on top of Jazz's head, causing her face to smack into her pillow.

"No-sir-re! That's the type of attitude that's got Ol' One Eye and Butler Boy after ya'. If we're gonna be a good team, we have to tell each other everything." He pulls her head up.

"EVERYTHING. Got it, Angel?" He asks.

"Yeah.." Jazz says in a muffled voice.


	35. Welcome Back, Mr Sutcliff!

The next morning, Jazz wakes up to the sound of a loud, girlish shriek. She rubs her eyes and tries rising from the bed, but immediately is pounced on by an over excited Roger.

She grunts as Roger's "extra weight" proves to be a mighty force against her stomach.

"Heya, heya! Wake up-a! I've got some big news for ya, Jazzy!" Roger says with a big smile.

Jazz looks at him, still drowsy and zombie faced. When her vision finally becomes clearer, it turns out that the extra weight on Roger was actually the book Aristocratic Oaths: Broken, which he was currently holding in his paws.

"Ugh..Roger, do you have any idea what time it is?" She asks in a groggy voice.

Roger pulls out Jazz's phone from a fold in his fur and shoves it in her face.

"Twenty minutes to seven, Angel. Now wake up!" He says.

Jazz's body jolts, causing Roger to fall over. The book lands on him, but she is too occupied to notice. She hurries into the wardrobe to grab her dress while Roger groans in pain, struggling to push the book off of himself.

"Well,..I'm glad you were listening, but when I said 'get up' I didn't mean causing an earthquake." Roger says, weakly.

Jazz puts on her dress- untidily on I might add- and is frantically brushing her hair. Her naps and curls get caught in the brush. Exasperated, she turns to Roger, falling to her knees.

"I'm so late! Ciel's gonna kill me..or that naughty demon Sebastian." Jazz says as she rubs her leg.

Roger whimpers.

Jazz looks up. "Oh cheeze, I'm sorry!"

She runs over and take the book off of him.

"My bad. My meltdown go the best of-" She looks at the book.

"Wait, why is this bookmark here?" She thinks.

Her cat bookmark is lodged on a certain page of the book. She flips to that page, and sees a chapter that is dedicated to two grim reapers.

Jazz gasps. "Mr. William and..Grell?"

"Yeah, four eyes has a buddy" Roger coughs. "-and guess who decided to pay us a visit?" Roger asks.

Around the dining area, Jazz and Roger peek out of a corner. Immediately, Grell comes through double doors riding on a food cart with tea. The three musketeers along with Tanaka are standing around the area talking with one another. Grell crashes into Finny and spills tea all over him. The poor boy starts jumping around, yelling,

"Ahh! Ahh! Hot, hot, hot!" Finny screams.

Jazz rubs her head. "Well I guess I wasn't noticed much. This Grell guy seems to have a habit of keeping everyone's attention on him. That's pretty convenient." She says.

"Betcha thought that was it, didn't you?" Roger asks.

"Huh? What's the other big news then?" She asks.

"Ahem." Roger points to Jazz's bag. "I think you'll get a kick out of this one." Roger says.

Jazz takes off her book bag and opens it up.

"Okay, what am I looking for, Roger?" She asks.

"Take another look in the book." Roger says.

Jazz picks up the book and looks at the bookmarked page. She reads through it more thoroughly and looks back at Grell.

"Hm, well it says he's a red headed, incompetent reaper with shark like teeth but...nothing about why he's specifically here." She says.

Roger is surprised and presses his face against the book.

"What the? I thought it said 'he was here to kill..or something. He's not here for us?" He asks.

"Roger, that's not how the book works. We can't be in the book! This was written before we went in the past, so it wouldn't say he was here because of us. He has to be here for another reason." Jazz says.

Roger groans and tosses the book back in Jazz's bag.

"Lousy, good for nothing waste of trees! This book isn't helping at all. It's like if it has nothing really to do with Ol' One Eye, it won't say anything else." Roger says as he crosses his arms.

Jazz pats Roger on his head.

"No way, you were definitely right. This book _can_ give us a little insight on some people. I mean think about it, if we hadn't checked the book, we wouldn't have known that Grell is a reaper. So think, what does that tell us?" She asks.

"Uh...he got fired?" Roger says, unsure.

She frowns. "Not necessarily...but it does suggest that he's here under cover, or at least under false pretenses. Remember, he's a reaper. They don't usually get involved with human affairs, so it must be really really important why he's here." Jazz says.

"K'. So why do you think he's disguised, and do you think he can help us out on this mission thing of ours?" Roger asks.

"Hm, well those sound like questions we'll have to find out, but we should play it cool since we don't want to blow his cover." Jazz smirks.

"At least, not right away." She says.

Jazz puts her book bag on and Roger jumps onto her shoulder. Just then, Grell tries to hand Finny a napkin to dry him off, but ends up grabbing the dining table cloth, causing the plates and teacups to fall. All the other servants except Tanaka groan in annoyance at Grell's clumsiness.

Jazz puts a hand on her hip and Roger shakes his head.

"Man, he really isn't good at this whole 'butler' thing." Jazz says quietly to Roger.

Bardroy suddenly appears next to Jazz and puts his arm around her.

She grimaces. "Oh go away Mr. I Like Hitting Kids With Frying Pans." She thinks

"You're tellin' me. What I don't understand is why in the bloomin' heavens would the Young Master hire this walking disaster." Bardroy says.

"Really Bard, and you're one to talk?" Ciel says.

Sebastian and Ciel are now in the dining room. The Earl is dressed in an overcoat and top hat with his wooden cane by his side.

Sebastian looks over the damage done to the room and sighs heavily.

"I see it didn't take long for you to introduce yourself to the rest of the staff, Grell." Sebastian says.

Grell stares at Sebastian, looking extra flustered.

Ciel taps his cane. "Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Grell Sutcliff. He is a servant of Madame Red's but she has requested he stay with me to receive training from Sebastian on being a proficient butler. " He says.

Sebastian frowns. "Yes, of course. Bestow this nuisance upon me, why don't you?" He thinks.

"Now, Sebastian and I are going out to town for a short time. When I return, I expect this place to be in the same condition. The same exact condition. Is that clear?" Ciel says sternly.

He looks at Jazz and walks over to her.

She tenses up. "Bajeebs, is everyone into invading my personal space today?" Jazz thinks.

"Jazmine, I'm trusting you to keep everyone in line while I'm gone. You can handle this, right?" Ciel asks.

She looks around. "Why me?" She asks.

Ciel smirks. "Are you questioning my authority?" He asks.

"...No, I'm not. I just don't think that I'm the leader type-

"Then this is a test. Fail, and there will be consequences. Negative consequences." Ciel says.

He smiles at her and exits the room. Sebastian is about to follow after his master but looks back at Jazz.

She sighs. "This is such a bad day…" She thinks.

Roger growls at Sebastian.

"I hope you don't disappoint the Young Master, _kitten_." Sebastian says under his breath. He shortly exits the room.

Jazz rolls her eyes and turns to face the rest of the servants. Grell looks at the mess he's caused and shrieks.

"Aw, no! I've been a terrible butler and now I must do the only sensible thing.." Grell begins.

Grell takes out a katana and aims it at his neck. Everyone else panics and runs over to him.

"Hey stop! You don't need to do that!" Bardroy yells.

"Eh?..W-where did he get the sword from?" Mey-rin asks.

Jazz groans and takes off the black choker from her neck. She pulls on it to extend its length, and swings it like a grappling hook. It latches it onto the katana Grell has in his hands. Then she yanks the katana from his hands and catches it one hand. Everyone is shocked.

"Ahem, could we try not being completely insane today?" Jazz looks down. "Or at least when I'm not in charge…" She says under her breath.


	36. Disaster: Party of Seven

Jazz holds up Grell's katana and her grapple neck choker.

"Ahhhhhh, that was absolutely incredible Miss Jazmine!" Mey-Rin shouts.

Jazz frowns. "Uh...thanks?" She looks at Grell. "Maybe we should focus on the fact that a person tried to commit-

"Yeah, that's some fancy necklace gear you're sportin' there, doll. You got any more of those?" Bardroy says with a grin.

Jazz glares at Bardroy. "I doubt I'd feel comfortable with you of all people-

"Ho, ho, ho!" Tanaka says.

Jazz sighs in defeat. "I knew I should have stayed a mute." She thinks.

Finny moves over to Jazz and grabs at her choker.

"Wow...this wee thing can do that?" He smiles. "Can I see?~" Finny asks.

"Um, sorry but I have to say, no." Jazz says as she tries pulling it out of Finny's grasp.

While she was only somewhat aware of it, it was clear that Finny was an abnormally strong young man. He nearly crushed Jazz and Roger's bodies in thirds when he hugged them in the garden. There was also the more recent display of his infinite strength when he decided it made sense to chuck a 100 lb stone statue at mice to capture them. Knowing this was enough to worry Jazz about Finny handling her extendable choker, which she needed for things like battling monsters, latching onto stuff when falling, and especially for basic accessorizing.

"Aw come on, I just wanna see it for a second. I'll give it back quick. I promise!" Finny says, pouting.

"It's not a toy, and you can't just take it." Jazz says, struggling.

Jazz tries pulling at the other end of the choker, making it extend even more. Roger gets off Jazz's shoulder and jumps onto the choker. He moves towards Finny's side and jumps up and down to get him to lose his grip. Alas, this does not work.

"Uh, Finny perhaps let Miss Jazmine have the necklace..., okay?" Mey-Rin looks at Roger. "Her rodent might get you if you're not careful!" She says, nervously.

Bardroy stares daggers at Roger. "Pfft! What are you losing your head over? That rodent wouldn't stand a chance. The blimey little thing…" He grumbles.

"Bard!" Mey-Rin shouts.

"What? He's a talking menace, and I swear I'm gonna prove it." He says.

Jazz tries yanking the choker from Finny, and he pouts.

"Mr. Finny I'm sorry, but could you let go? I need this thing." Jazz says.

"B-but…." Finny wails. It's so nice!" He cries.

Instantly, Finny tugs at the choker and catapults Jazz and Roger high into the air.

"FINNY!" Mey-Rin, Bardroy, and Grell shout.

"Hey guys, look!" Finny swings the choker around. "I'm a cowboy, teehee~" He says.

Finny looks at the others and notices their terrified faces.

"Mm? What's with them?" He thinks.

He looks at what they are staring at and his jaw drops.

"AHHHHH! OH NOOOOOOO!" Finny yells.

Jazz and Roger hit the top the ceiling, and fall back down fast.

"Oh dear! That young girl is about to perish and it's all my fault!..." Grell begins.

He sees the katana left on the floor, picks it up, and aims it at his neck.

"I shall honor your sacrifice, dear Jazmine with my death!" He shrieks.

"Are you serious right now?!" Bardroy yells.

"Hey, don't worry Jazmine, I'll save you!" Finny shouts.

He runs out of the dining room, and eight seconds later charges in through the walls with two king sized mattresses stacked on top of each other.

"Finny! Are you daft?!" Mery-Rin shouts.

Jazz and Roger both land on the mattresses, and sink into the soft fabric.

She exhales. "..How..W-What is my life right now?" She mumbles.

Roger had landed face first into the mattress, so he can only muffle into the mattress. The three musketeers, Tanaka, and Grell all hover over towards the two. Finny touches her face and lifts her up.

"Jazmine are you alright?! I'm so so so so soooooo sorry! I didn't mean to do that." He shakes his head. "Honest!"

Jazz's bracelet starts vibrating. It was carefully hidden under the sleeve of her dress, but the vibrations were causing the bracelet to fall from underneath her sleeve.

"What in the name of Zeus?! Not now! If any of these guys saw, they'd be all over me even more!" She thinks.

Jazz springs up from the bed and grabs at her wrist. She pants, and turns away from everyone.

"What is going on with this thing?" She thinks.

When she pulls up her sleeve, her bracelet has a gold aura around it, but this time one of the ebony beads has changed color. It was golden.

"Oh no! I hurt her...again." He runs up to Jazz and touches her back, but she tenses up.

"I'm really, really sorry if I hurt you! Did I?" Finny asks, tears in his eyes.

Jazz pulls her sleeve back down and turns to face Finny. She wipes some sweat from her forehead.

"What? Oh no, no...I think I just sprained my wrist a little on the way down." She backs away from Finny. "I-It's no big deal."

Jazz says, still holding her wrist since the vibrations weren't ceasing.

"You sure you're alright? We could have a look at your arm if you want." Mey-Rin says.

"Yeah, don't be afraid to ask us for help." Bardroy looks at Mey-Rin. "We are a team, after all." He says, smiling.

Jazz moves her hands behind her back and chuckles nervously.

"Really, it's all right. I'm fine." She looks at Finny. "And thank you, Mr. Finny. You always seem to look out for me...most of the time." Jazz says, sweetly.

Finny blushes and gives Jazz a bear hug. It hurts like crazy, but she makes sure to keep her vibrating wrist from Finny's body. During the hug, she takes notice of the total damage done, and I must say, even the Titanic sinking didn't escalate as quickly as the disaster that went on in here did. The dining room tablecloth and dishes were on the floor, there was a gaping wide hole in the wall, as well as two mattresses on top of each other placed dead center in the room.

When Jazz's bracelet finally stops, she sighs with relief.

"Looks like we have a lot of messes to clean, guys." She says.

Everyone turns to see the disaster, and groans.

….

Somehow after 2 near death experiences and a strange supernatural vibration, Jazz had managed to take control of the situation. She instructed Finny and Bardroy to move the mattresses back to their respective places, and repair the hole in the wall. Grell and Mey-Rin handled disposing the broken dishware, and cleaning/replacing the dining table cloth.

Tanaka…...well, she thought he was best as he was.

After clean up duty, everyone took leisure outside. Grell was in the middle of clipping the hedges. The rest of the staff were marveling at the Phantomhive manor while eating apples.

"Man oh man, it's a beautiful day." Bardroy says while stretching.

"Yes, it is so! I bet the Young Master and Sebastian are having a marvelous time strolling London." Mey-Rin says before taking a bite into an apple.

"Hehe, you know it's interesting how much destruction can go on inside his manor, and yet this outside view would never seem to suggest such...It looks quite, grounded and peaceful." Grell says.

Jazz is about to take a bite out of her apple, but Roger takes a bite instead.

She rolls her eyes. "You just can't help yourself, can you? Here, it's yours." She lets him have the apple.

When she reaches for another apple out of a picnic basket, a gloved hand beats her to it.

"What the?" She thinks.

She looks up and sees a full grown, Tanaka smiling at her as he hands her the apple.


	37. It's Surprising How Suprised I Can Get

Jazz gasps at the full grown Tanaka.

"What in the name of Zeus?!" She thinks.

Roger looks up at Tanaka and spits out the apple.

"...What the heck is in this apple?!" Roger whispers to Jazz.

"I-I must be seeing things again." Jazz rubs her eyes over and over to check to see if what she's seeing is real.

Roger looks at his apple and chucks it at Tanaka, but he swiftly catches it. The two gasp.

"Jazzy, th-this mini man just turned giant and worse...HE'S A NINJA." Roger whispers.

Bardroy who was lying down and smoking a cigarette, puffs out a small cloud of smoke.

"You know it's only been around for two years now." Bardroy says.

Grell is still clipping the hedges and turns to look at the house again.

"Huh? Only two years? That's surprising. It looks much older than that." Grell asks.

"Yes, as it should. It was designed intentionally to look that way. It mirrors the look and appeal the previous manor had before." Tanaka says.

Jazz narrows her eyes at the manor, and looks at Roger.

"Hmph, and there's no guess to who 're-designed' it so perfectly." Jazz whispers.

Grell turns around and notices Tanaka is now a fully grown sized man. He shrieks and nearly drops the hedge clippers.

"Ah! Who the devil are you?!" He yells.

"Ooh! It's the _real_ Tanaka!" Finny exclaims with excitement.

"Man, we haven't seen him for months!" Bardroy says with a smile.

Jazz and Roger look at each other dumbfounded.

"Um,...the 'real' Tanaka?" Jazz asks.

"Mm-hmm! The real Tanaka doesn't really come out often." Mey-Rin says.

Jazz stands up next to Tanaka and starts….touching him... _yeah, I know it's strange, but Jazz will be Jazz_. She pokes at his sides, and tries touching his face, but he playfully twirls her around like a ballerina. She smiles and does a pirouette turn, ending their short, silly dance.

" So..there was a previous manor?" Grell asks.

Tanaka strokes his chin while looking towards the manor.

"Yes. About three years ago, the Phantomhive manor was set ablaze, and later destroyed by the flames." Tanaka says.

"So you were there with Ciel and his family?" Jazz asks, quite surprised.

Tanaka nods.

"Oh dear, that's terrible what happened. Tell me, did Young Ciel's parents..-

"Unfortunately, yes. They perished in the fire, but thankfully the Young Master and I were able to survive." Tanaka says.

Grell sighs and turns around again, finally finished clipping the hedges.

"It's a shame how much misfortune the Young Master has had; it's probably a heavy-

Suddenly, Tanaka has steam pushing out of his sides and he shrinks. His body appears to have deflated and he has returned to his miniaturized form. Grell goes pale and lets out another shriek, but Jazz and Roger are absolutely speechless.

"Ho, ho, ho!" Tanaka says.

"...Oh god no, what happened!" Grell yells.

Finny pouts. "Aw, he ran out of steam~" He says.

"W-wha-what?!" Grell shouts.

"His energy levels and stamina are lower than a normal person. Being the real Tanaka exhausts him. He just needs to rest for awhile." Bardroy says.

"Uh,..that's interesting." Grell says.

Jazz stares pensively at Tanaka. "I wonder if he'll let me do some experiments on him." She whispers to Roger.

He grimaces. "Ew, what is wrong with you?" Roger whispers.

Immediately a loud scream breaks the awkwardness. Everyone turns toward the source of the scream, and see that it was Mey-Rin. She and Finny are staring in shock at the shrubs in the garden. The shrubs Grell had been trimming were all...skulls.

Jazz marvels at the skulls. "Holy Donuts, this is a…-a gothic dream of death~" Jazz says, smiling.

He gasps. "Really? You really think so?" Grell asks, eagerly.

"What?! Are you two lot completely daft?! This is deplorable! And why are they all skulls?!" Bardroy yells.

"Eh? Oh no! I've done it again!" Grell cries. "I've disgraced myself!"

Grell runs over towards a tree and magically produces a stepping stairs, and rope out of nowhere. He quickly jumps onto the stairs, ties the rope around his neck, and gets ready to jump off. Everyone else runs over to him, except Jazz who is still distracted with the skull shrubs. Roger pulls at her dress to get her attention but has no success.

She sighs, happily. "Wow, this is some great detail.." Jazz touches the eyes of the skull.

"He even made so much room for the eye sockets. I could practically jump right inside!" Jazz says.

Roger shudders. "Jazzy, you scare me sometimes. Anywho, I think the Three Stooges and Hamlet over there need our attention." He whispers.

"Hm? Wait, I think I see something." Jazz says.

She looks closer into the eye of the skull and is met with a pair of bright, green eyes. Suddenly, she is pounced on by the figure inside the eye of the skull. When Jazz regains her sight, she sees that her attacker is a cute, blonde girl with curly ringlets and an elegant, orange dress. The girl smiles at Jazz and Roger then giggles in a shrill voice.

"Oh my, you are adorable!" She points to Roger. "-and she is such a cutey!" The girl says.

"Ah! Who is this girl?" Jazz thinks.

She and Roger try scooting away from the girl, but she grabs them both. The girl drags them towards the Three Musketeers, Tanaka, and Grell. Just as Grell is about to jump off the stool, the girl grabs the stool. Grell starts choking, but she grabs him as well. Don't ask me how a girl can manage to effortlessly grab a grown man while also carrying a younger child and raccoon- I'm just as bewildered as you all are!

"Come on everybody, it's makeover time!" The girl shouts.

Everyone is confused.

Jazz gets out of the girl's grasp and stands in front of her.

"Whoa, there. Just who are you, and what are you doing here?" She asks.

Everyone wait for an answer, but the girl seemed to not have been paying attention to what Jazz asked. She stares deeply at Jazz, and glomps her.

She touches Jazz's cheeks. "Ah, you even sound like a princess too! Hehe, you'll definitely be the last for a makeover little one, but until then…" The girl looks at everyone else and flashes them a creepy smile.

Everyone screams and starts running all over the garden, but the girl came prepared with "supplies". She tackles Bardroy and forces him to wear a pair of bunny ears with a tail. She moves on over to Finny, taking out a light pink dress with white frills on it. The gardener starts treading through the fresh cluster of flowers planted, and completely destroying the garden! The girl, however, has the stamina of horse, and catches him without challenge. She forces the dress on him, and ties on a pink bonnet to his head. Jazz, gets up, grabs Roger, and high tails it out of there. Mey-Rin and Grell run away inside the manor.


	38. Playing a Game of Ball and Chase

Finally inside the manor, Jazz, Roger, Mey-Rin, and Grell all exhale with relief. Roger climbs onto Jazz's shoulder and lies on his back to rest.

"Do you two think everyone else will make it inside?" Mey-Rin asks.

Jazz tries to leave the kitchen but Mey-Rin pulls her back.

"Miss Jazmine!" Mey-Rin scolds.

"Darn it. I thought I was safe." Jazz thinks.

Grell looks out the kitchen window and frowns.

"Tell me, do you think we're safe in here?" He asks.

Mey-Rin shakes her head. "I'm not sure. Right now, we might need to call the Young Master, yes." She fixes her glasses. "Hopefully she didn't see us go in here."

Jazz crosses her arms. "Who could this girl be? Mr. Phantomhive never mentioned he'd have a visitor for today, but she's definitely important. I mean, look at that dress. No commoner walks around with that apparel." She thinks.

"Ms. Mey-Rin, can I ask you something?" Jazz asks.

"Yes?" Mey-Rin asks.

"Are you sure you don't know this girl? Like is she a friend of Ciel's or…-

The two females are interrupted by the sound of a child giggling. Jazz, Mey-Rin, and Grell go pale.

Grell starts sweating. "U-um, Miss Jazmine..please tell me that was you…" Grell says.

Jazz shakes her head.

Bang! A loud knock is heard at the kitchen window.

"Ah!"

All three servants drop down to the floor.

Grell goes into the fetal position, and rocks back and forth.

"Mr. Sutcliff, you can't do that! You have to pull yourself together, or else she'll find us." Mey-Rin whispers.

"I don't know...I'm getting those scary movie vibes right now. And this is usually the part where we all get snatched up and tortured." Jazz thinks.

During their despair, the sound of the front door opening is heard. Everyone crawls on their knees and peeks out from a corner to see. Ciel and Sebastian have returned home, and are shocked by what they see.

Apparently, someone decided to redecorate the manor in the theme of "Bubblegum Pink" or whatever stereotype there is about what prepubescent girls like. The entrance of the manor was covered in orange and pink banners/bows! There were strange spiral ornaments hanging about, and even the whole room smelled "pretty"...like vanilla cookies. *

"Wh-what on earth happened to my manor?!" Ciel yells.

A familiar girlish shriek is heard. Mey-Rin and Jazz look around for Grell, but don't see him around. Once they both turn around, they see that the girl from the garden is dragging away Grell.

"Ah! Wait!" Mey-Rin yells.

The two females run down the hall to catch up with the girl, but when they reach the room she ran into, she's vanished. They both find Grell alone, hanging from the ceiling by an orange banner connected to a bonnet tied to his head.

"Mr. Sutcliff, why?!" Mey-Rin yells.

"Hm, I guess he finally got what he wanted." Jazz says.

Jazz walks over to Grell and pokes him. He coughs and starts swaying a bit.

"Oopsies nevermind." She thinks. "Let me guess, it was 'Goldilocks' that struck this time. Am I right?" Jazz asks.

"Righttttt…" Grell says in a raspy voice.

Before Jazz can question Grell further, Ciel, Sebastian, the others come rushing in the room. Ciel storms over to Jazz, red in the face.

"Jazmine! What happened here?! And why in the world is everything PINK?!" He yells.

She gestures to Grell. "It's not my fault you have some crazy girl on the loose trying to kill everyone with 'cuteness'..." Jazz looks around the room. "Though personally, I would've gone with something a little on the darker side." She mumbles.

"Wait, this girl wasn't you?" Ciel turns to Bardroy and Finny. "Then what girl were you two talking about?" He asks.

Grell starts moaning, gaining Ciel's attention.

"And you, what are you doing now?" He asks.

"Currently in the process of dying Master Ciel.." Grell says weakly.

Ciel groans. "Sebastian, get him down from there."

Sebastian bows. "Yes, my lord."

He walks over to Grell's hanging body, starts taking him down, but suddenly the blonde girl comes out of another room. She glomps Ciel without warning.

She squeals. "Oh Ciel! It's so wonderful you're back, and you're sooooo cuttteeee! You're such a cute little cutey,- oh I could just eat you up! You beautiful, dear boy!" The girl says.

"Eh?! Why Elizabeth what a surprise! What brings you here?" Ciel asks.

"I came over to see you, silly!" She rubs her face against his.

"And how many times have I told you to call me 'Lizzie'?" Elizabeth says.

Roger wakes up from his nap, and looks around the room; he notices Grell with a bonnet on his head, Finny in a pink dress, Bardroy with bunny ears, Tanaka with a blonde wig on, and the oddly decorated room they're all standing in.

He yawns. "Mm, I need to start taking those antipsychotics before I drift off again." Roger murmurs.

Jazz moves somewhat farther away from everyone and sits down at a nearby chair. Roger jumps off her shoulder onto a table and stretches.

"Don't worry, you're not going crazy. You just slept through a heck of a chase." Jazz says.

"A chase, you say? Well, if it still involved Polly Pocket over there, I know it didn't end well." He looks at Elizabeth. "Heya, do you have any idea who that chick is?"

"Well, now that I have a name I do." Jazz says.

"Huh?" Roger asks.

Jazz smiles at Elizabeth. "From what I read, she must be the lovely Lady Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford. Daughter of Frances Midford, and Alexis Leon. Also, the niece of Vincent Phantomhive." Jazz says.

"Vincent?...So that's Ol' One Eye's, uh Poppa?.." He asks.

"Mm-hm. Mr. Phantomhive's dad. Meaning.." She says.

"Polly Pocket is Ol' One Eye's cousin? Well that's not much of a reveal, Jazzy." Roger says.

"No? Well how about this. At this point in the 19th century, it was still customary for those of noble class to marry others of high class. I guess something about keeping a strong blood line of rich, snobs- whatever. Anyway, nobles have to marry other nobles, and it doesn't always have to be someone 'outside the family's circle' if you know what I mean." Jazz says.

Roger cringes. "I don't like the way you said that." He looks at Elizabeth again. "I hope you're not saying what I think you are."

"Sorry to mentally scar you fuzzball, but Mr. Phantomhive and Lady Elizabeth are cousins meant to be married to each other." Jazz looks at Ciel and Elizabeth. "But it's not really that big of a deal when you think about it..at least for this time period."

"Hmph, I figured you'd be devastated considering Ol' One Eye's crush on ya'. Hehe." Roger says.

"Once again, I have no idea what you're talking about." Jazz says.

She takes off her book bag and takes out the riddle from yesterday. She puts it on the table, takes out a pencil and looks at Roger.

"Come on, let's try focusing on descrambling this weird riddle. Now that Mr. Phantomhive is back, and his fiance's keeping him occupied, we have free time to focus on finding Little Joe. You in?" Jazz asks.

Roger moves closer in. "You betcha, Jazzy."

"Great. So-

Elizabeth pulls Jazz from her seat, and starts dancing with her. Jazz frowns, unsure how to react.

"What the heck?!" She thinks.

"-A ball will be most certainly entertaining. And you must join us as well, um..I'm sorry, I haven't gotten your name yet." Elizabeth says.

"...It's Jazz..or Jazmine. Whatever you'd like to call me I guess, Lady Elizabeth." Jazz says.

Elizabeth giggles. "Aw, you have a cute nickname too! Ooh, I can tell we'll be the greatest of friends, Jazz! Will you come to our ball?" She asks.

"Oy, I said no ba-

"Uh...of course, Lady Elizabeth. If you're there it should be fun,-" Jazz looks around the room. "-but let's talk about the decor first.."

Ciel is shocked. "What?! How on Earth could she agree to such nonsense?" He thinks.

Elizabeth gasps. "Oh how fantastic! You could help me with the decorating, costumes, music, everything! Hehehe, oh it will be absolutely wonderful!" She smiles creepily at Jazz. "And then I can give you a makeover~" Elizabeth says.

Jazz starts chuckling, nervously. "What in the name of Zeus have I gotten myself into?" She thinks.


	39. Questioning Roles

_**O' Welcome, welcome, welcome, to the ball!**_

 _ **It's the grandest, neatest thing you ever saw~**_

 _ **Dancing in song,**_

 _ **Singing along,**_

 _ **Won't you join us after all?**_

This silly tune kept buzzing throughout young Jazz's head like an angry bee. Back in her hometown Holiday, this tune would play before every Etiquette School dance Jazz attended when she was younger. It was practically a way to brainwash an interest of dance into the minds of poor, bored children. However, if you're curious about me going further into that, I'd like to have Jazz explain instead.

Right now, Jazz was in a dressing room, sitting in a chair. Roger was sitting on the white desk and tearing apart a hairbrush that was nearby.

"Wait, wait, wait. So you're telling me that you used to go to basically,..ghetto charm school?" Roger asks.

She playfully shoves Roger. "Shut up. It was not ghetto! It was just in a 'kinda bad' neighborhood. I actually learned a lot, but I'm glad my dad finally got me a real dance teacher. Mr. Francis is a tough instructor, but he knows his stuff."

"Too bad that stupid song still haunts me to this day." She groans.

He laughs. "How'd it go?" Roger asks.

Jazz giggles. "You really wanna hear it? There's nothing to scrub your brain with to wipe this song from your mind. I mean it. It will stain into your memory!"

He grins. "Try me."

Jazz clears her throat. " _O' welcome, welcome, welcome to the ball~ It's the grandest, neatest thing you ever saw~ Dancing in song, singing along..Won't you join us after all?_ "

Roger start bursting into a high pitched chortle. His laughter is so loud, it attracts the attention of someone outside the room. Two knocks at the door are heard.

Jazz gasps. "Shh! Stop laughing!" She says.

Roger covers up his mouth to stop laughing, but instead starts to snicker.

"Ugh! Really?" She asks.

Jazz pokes him in the belly and gets up from the desk to answer the door. As soon as she opens the door, Elizabeth comes barging in with a clothes rack of dresses, and matching hats. Jazz is taken aback by this and nearly falls over, but Elizabeth catches her.

"Oh my, don't want you falling now, little one." Elizabeth pouts. "Then you couldn't dance at the ball~" She says.

"Hehe." Jazz rubs the back of her neck. "Oh yeah, and probably break my neck and die." She says.

"Oh yes, my apologies!..I guess I'm just a wee too wrapped up in the arrangements for the ball." Elizabeth sighs.

Jazz tilts her head. "I wonder what's bugging her? She was bouncing around a minute ago." She thinks.

She taps Elizabeth's shoulder. "...Um, are you alright?"

Elizabeth smiles. "Why yes, of course!" She looks away. "Why do you ask?"

"..Oh well...I-I thought maybe you were upset about something." Jazz says.

Elizabeth stares at Jazz's face more intensely, and squeals loudly.

Jazz flinches. "Bajeebs! What was that?" She thinks.

"Goodness gracious! You are a real princess! We must begin your makeover. I want to make you even more adorable!" Elizabeth shouts.

She runs over to the table and picks up the hairbrush. The handle breaks off as soon as she grips it.

"Huh? How peculiar! I was sure Paula bought a brand new brush." She tosses it aside.

Jazz sighs in relief.

"I have another one just in case of emergencies!" Elizabeth pulls out a new brush from another table.

Jazz is shocked. "...Are you kidding me?" She thinks.

Elizabeth ushers Jazz over to a chair, and scoots her in front of a vanity mirror. Roger scurries over to where they are.

"Um..Lady Eliz-

"Lizzie! Just call me Lizzie. We are friends now, aren't we?" Elizabeth asks.

"..Right.." Jazz blushes. "Listen, you don't wanna tangle with my head." She looks away. "It's really not easy.." She says, quietly.

"Mm? What could she mean?" Elizabeth thinks.

She looks at Jazz's reflection in the mirror.

"Oh..." Elizabeth thinks.

Jazz's face gets really red, and she tries to get up from the chair, but Elizabeth puts a hand on her shoulder.

Elizabeth smiles. "Well that's no way for a princess to look. How will you find a prince if you talk down to yourself like that?" She asks.

"Huh?...But, I don't want a 'prince'...That's...that's not me." Jazz thinks.

Elizabeth plays with Jazz's hair. "I think your curly textures are exotic. And a princess should strive to be as unique as she can. Or else, no man would see her." She says.

"Lady Eli-..I mean Lizzie. Do you ever think that maybe your looks aren't that important?" Jazz asks.

Elizabeth frowns. "I-I don't understand." She says.

Jazz crosses her arms. "I don't like my hair. It's nappy and I sometimes feel like shaving it all off." She turns to face Elizabeth.

"That's my insecurity, though. I don't want to care about what some boy might say."

Elizabeth is shocked. "B-But how could you think that? Boys matter because they can make us happy….at least, that's what my aunt told me." She says.

"...But you love Ciel. Should it matter what you look like for him to marry you?" Jazz asks.

"Well, possibly. If he thought I was ugly, or mean, or man-like...I don't believe if he would have me. I do not wish for him to see that and he wants a beautiful lady." Elizabeth says.

"Oh..I didn't think about it that way." She turns back around. "I just thought he'd be happy to be with you. A happy you."

"...a happy me?" Elizabeth thinks.

* * *

Jazz puts her hair in a short pony tail, and Elizabeth places a large, pink box on the table.

"Hm? What's that?" Jazz thinks.

"Please, allow me decorate your hair. That way, you'll be super pretty." Elizabeth says.

She opens the box and inside is a treasure trove of hair accessories. Jazz dips her fingers inside the box and runs her tips along the curve of a red hair pin shaped like a rose.

"Mm. She definitely has taste...Who am I kidding? My sense of style is backwards compared to girls like her. Of course she has great taste." She thinks.

"Ooh! So you like that one? Goody, because I have a dress that'll go perfect with that~" Elizabeth says.

Jazz nods. "Why am I not surprised?" She thinks.

Elizabeth finally finished her makeover for Jazz. A ruby red dress with ruffles and a black trim. Her hair was covered in rose shaped clips. How subtle. She was walking rosebud!

"Yes, this is so perfect! Now to move on to the dresses and then, THE BALL!" Elizabeth shouts.

After that "girl time", Jazz and Roger left to wander to an isolated room where they could finally discuss the mysterious riddle. They chose the library and Jazz immediately went to work marking up the letter with her notes.

"Okay, so let's think. The numbers nine and twenty must be referring to a date and it's underlined so it's important. However, there is also a possibility that it could be a number of a street, a time, or money even. What makes sense here, to me at least, is it meaning a date to come, making this note time sensitive." Jazz says.

"Right now, it's eighteenth. So we can momentarily cross that one out, but we should be worried a little. How about the next few lines?" Roger asks.

"Alright. 'I know you are searching, and now I know you feel that same sorrow.' blah, blah, blah 'Without any options for recourse..'. Must be talking about Little Joe, obviously. What I'm concerned about here is, who would do this and why? This person's lost someone too, I guess. But then they go on and say without any other options for help meaning…" She says.

"Uh..maybe they lost somebody, and….they want our help?" Roger asks.

"Great. That makes sense.." Jazz writes down a note. "I'm still wondering who they are. My guess is that we'll find out if we meet them at this location at the right time."

She sighs.

"Whenever that is.. with this riddle, there's nothing here that says specifically a time, except maybe this nine twenty here. Would do you think? "

"Angel, let's focus on the last part of the riddle then we'll get back to figuring out a date and time." Roger says.

Jazz nods. "Well, after all that, the only thing left is a summarization of one of Isaac Newton's laws of motion.-The third one I think. And they said 'you'll find this to be the destination.' I'm not sure if there's a street named after Newton himself in London, but it wouldn't be so far fetched would it? We have some streets in America named after him." Jazz says.

"Heya, why don't you just check it out on your uh, digital, virtual, hypographic do hickey?" Roger asks.

She snaps her fingers. "Roger, you're a genius."

Jazz goes into her book bag and pulls out the virtual map finder device. Just as she's about to use though, a figure appears at the door and knocks before entering inside. Jazz and Roger look up to see Sebastian, staring at her thoughtfully.

She quickly hides her device back in her book bag and zips it up. Sebastian walks over to the desk and looks over at the letter she's written on.

"Hm? What could she be doing with that?" Sebastian thinks.

He clears his throat. "Honestly, I was expecting Lady Elizabeth to do more harm than good in your 'makeover', but it seems you look excellent in anything you wear." Sebastian says.

"...Is there something you want, Mr. Michaelis?" Jazz asks.

He chuckles. "What's with the formality, kitten?"

"...To be fair, I never called you by your name at all before so you should feel like a toddler in a candy store right now."

Sebastian sighs, happily. "Well it is nice, my dear. Perhaps we'll progress to more endearing terms later."

Jazz rolls her eyes. "In your dreams, slimeball." She thinks.

"I'll ask again, what do you want?"

"Young Master has a 'special' problem in preparation for Lady Elizabeth's ball." Sebastian says.

She tilts her head. "..What's wrong with Mr. Phantomhive?"

"You haven't been around long enough to notice, but I'm afraid the Young Master is quite the wallflower when it comes to social gatherings. " Sebastian says.

"..So?..He's rich. He can do whatever he wants, right?" Jazz asks.

Sebastian frowns. "No. Sociability is an important aspect to those of high status. When the Young Master chooses to decline invitations to balls and refuses to interact with others, it gives his enemies the chance to defame his character with slander." He says.

"Oh...Mr. Phantomhive's enemies will make him look like mean?" Jazz asks.

"Precisely. And this is why he has sent me to retrieve you." Sebastian says.

"Hm..I don't like parties unless they have free food.." She thinks.

"I guess it would look bad if Mr. Phantomhive didn't dance with his fiance." Jazz says.

Sebastian smiles. "Good. If you'll come with me to Young Master's study, I'm sure he'll be more than ready to explain what he needs from you."

Jazz stands up and fixes her outfit and hair.

Sebastian checks her out.

"Mm~ What a suggestive pose, my little kitten." He thinks.

She glares at him and punches him in the stomach.

"Look Mr. Butler, you better not try anything funny because I don't make idle threats. I can and will break your arm if you touch me."

Sebastian purrs. "I would like nothing more than to see you handle me aggressively, sweet kitten."

She shudders. "Just start moving, you ogre."

Sebastian smirks. "Hmph, I'm an ogre now?"

Jazz ignores him and he begins leading her out the library. Roger remains in the room, looking over her things.

When Jazz and Sebastian reach Ciel's office, they find him leaning against his desk with his arms folded.

He notices Jazz dressed in her attire for the ball. "...She's..she looks..-" Ciel blushes before he can finish the thought.

Jazz looks at Ciel. "I wonder...is he sick?" She thinks.

Ciel covers his face from Jazz. "Tha-thank you, S-Sebastian." He murmurs.

Sebastian bows. "Of course, my lord." He notices Ciel's flustered face. "Is there something bothering you, my lord?"

Ciel moves past Jazz and grabs at Sebastian's tie, forcing him to bend down to his level.

"Why the hell is she here?!" Ciel whispers.

"My lord, why are you whispering?" Sebastian asks.

"Answer me! Why would you bring her here? She doesn't need to know about this!" Ciel whispers, loudly.

Jazz frowns. "Know about what? What the heck is your 'special' problem?"

Ciel hesitantly turns around to face Jazz, and stops covering his blush.

"...I don't know how to dance." Ciel says.


	40. Teaching The Art of Dance

Jazz blinks profusely. "...Y-you what?"

"Tch! You heard me. So are you going to be my dance partner, or are you going to just stand there looking silly?" Ciel asks.

Jazz looks around the room. "...You're joking, right?..."

"Miss Jazmine, I assure you this is not a practical joke. My Young Master here is in dire need of a partner to practice dancing with." Sebastian says.

Ciel glares at Sebastian and stomps on his foot.

Sebastian moves his foot. "Young Master?"

Ciel blushes. "Enough already! I told you I wanted someone shorter to dance with and you bring her in, airing out all my faults in front of her? Y-you malapropos snake!" He yells.

"My lord, I was just explaining-

"Forget it! I'm not going through with this stupid ball anyway! I'm telling Elizabeth it's not happening." Ciel shouts.

"Hey!" Jazz raises her voice.

Ciel and Sebastian are caught off guard.

"...It wouldn't look nice if you canceled, Mr. Phantomhive" She clears her throat. "..It's just one night for a dance, after all.

"What?.." Ciel blushes more red. "..Jazmine, I.." He mumbles, flustered.

"Thank you. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the problem with this." Sebastian says.

Ciel looks back at Sebastian and lets go of his tie.

"Sebastian?" He asks.

"Yes, my lord?" Sebastian says.

"...Leave the room. I-I need to speak with Jazmine.." Ciel looks away. "-alone." He says.

Sebastian smirks. "Of course, my lord. Please call for me when you wish me to return." Sebastian says.

He bows and exits the room.

Ciel and Jazz are left alone. She backs away from him and hugs herself, protectively.

Jazz sighs. "It's that same feeling from before. Ugh, I have to get out of here." She thinks.

She turns towards Ciel's desk. There is a partially eaten slice of chocolate cake on there.

"Ooh…" Jazz looks back at Ciel. "Maybe some sweets could lighten my mood. He shouldn't mind, anyway. It's nearly finished." She thinks.

And with that, she takes the plate and digs in.

Ciel sighs heavily. "...I'm sorry." He says, softly.

Jazz stops stuffing her face and turns back around.

"What?" Jazz asks, her mouth full.

"I said 'I'm sorry'." Ciel says, louder.

Jazz sits on top of Ciel's desk and keeps eating.

She finishes swallowing and wipes her mouth. "..What are you apologizing for? It's not a big deal or anything." Jazz says.

"What do you mean it's not a big deal? You should be upset- I…..I've given you the wrong impression."

"Oh well,..it's a little unusual, considering you're probably invited to parties all the time, but I guess not everyone likes dancing and that's okay.." Jazz says before stuffing more cake in her mouth.

"Dancing? I was talking about Elizabeth." Ciel says.

He turns around to face Jazz and is shocked.

"..Huh? What does she have to do with-

"What the hell? Have you been eating my food this entire time?!" He shouts.

"..N-No!" Jazz stays, with her mouth full.

Ciel grimaces. "You could at least swallow before you start talking." He says.

Jazz rolls her eyes. "..Stop looking at my mouth, then." She says under her breath.

He smirks. "I heard that, cake thief."

"..'Cake thief'?" She puts down the plate. "How is it stealing if you were almost done anyway?"

"How do you know I didn't intend to finish it?" He asks.

Jazz kicks her legs back and forth. "I assumed you weren't some fat, greedy pig." She says as she hops off the desk.

"I guess I was wrong." She thinks.

Ciel moves over to Jazz.

"Speaking of fat, do you think you can manage not collapsing on me as Sebastian walks me through the steps?" He asks.

Jazz glares at him. "I'm not fat, it's just baby fat! And I should be asking you the same thing, you haughty, haughty mess."

Ciel grins back at her and takes her hands in his. He kisses them, softly.

Jazz looks away. "Why does he always do that?" She thinks.

Ciel tries leading Jazz into a waltz, but she doesn't move and he bumps his knee into her leg.

"You better not be misleading me again Jazmine, or else I might have to punish you~" Ciel says, smirking.

"First off, I think dancing with you is punishment enough..-" Jazz begins.

He scoffs. "Excuse me? You're the one who didn't bother to move." Ciel says.

She frowns. "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were such a master at dancing, Mr. Phantomhive. My mistake~"

"Shut up." Ciel says.

She clears her throat. "As I was saying, that is not how you start a waltz. We're not even in the right position."

"Oh? Then tell me Jazmine, how should we be standing since you seem to know _all_ about dancing." Ciel says.

"Well for starters, we need to get closer." She moves in closer.

"Next, you need to have your hand on my back. And do not go lower than that, mister." Jazz says.

Ciel rolls his eyes. "Oh please! I'm not some perverted dope. You should trust I wouldn't do something so foul." He says.

"I trust that you're a boy...and older than me, so my warning still stands." Jazz says.

"What's next 'Miss Bossy'?" Ciel asks.

"The lady will put her left hand on the guy's right shoulder, and her right will go in his left hand. When the music begins, you have to lead me. So you start on your left foot, then you move forward while I, the lady, move backwards." Jazz says.

Ciel and Jazz move accordingly.

"Good. Then you move the opposite foot to the side, but not too wide, and then you bring your left foot over to your right foot's side." Jazz says.

Ciel does just that and Jazz follows with him, but his left foot is slightly too far from his right, and his knees aren't bending.

"Okay remember, you're leading the lady, so you need to make sure your movements are correct and smooth because I'm basically mirroring you. If you mess up, we both mess up, and it throws everything off." Jazz says.

"Right...so what did I do wrong?" Ciel asks.

"You have to loosen up. It's as simple as that. Also, get into the habit of bending, you know like a functioning human being?" Jazz says.

Ciel glares at Jazz and corrects himself.

Then Jazz continues to teach Ciel the basics of waltzing.

...

When the two are finished, Ciel is leaning over the desk, panting.

Jazz pats him on the back. "..I didn't realize 30 minutes of basic dance instruction could tucker someone out." She says.

Ciel pants. "Shut your trap! Not even a divine being could keep up with those ridiculous movements!" He yells.

A knock is heard at the door and Ciel turns around, sweating bullets.

"Come in already!" Ciel shouts.

Sebastian enters in, wearing a pink bonnet on his head. Immediately Jazz is shocked. Ciel shakes his head and walks over towards Sebastian.

"Hm, I guess you didn't need me to teach you after all." Sebastian mutters.

"What the in the name of Zeus happened to him?" Jazz thinks.

"Sebastian, what is the purpose of that ridiculous getup?" Ciel asks.

"Lady Elizabeth wishes for the ball to begin, so she thought it best to dress me so. " Sebastian says.

He coughs. "Is it really time?" Ciel asks.

"Yes, master. We need to get you dressed and ready." He smirks.

"I assume by that wet exasperated look you have, your practice with Miss Jazmine went well?" Sebastian asks.

"Yes, yes. Now let's just get this over with." Ciel says.

Everyone exits the room. Sebastian and Ciel go towards his bedroom while Jazz heads back towards the library.

Now I believe it is truly time for the ball!


	41. The Ball To Ruin All

Jazz walked into the library room to find that her lovable, talking raccoon friend was missing. Her book bag and the riddle, however, remained on the table.

"Uh oh. Not again.." Jazz says.

She gets her things and hurries out the room. Jazz makes it into the main room and stops when she sees the other servants. They are all dressed in silly outfits, except Mey-Rin. This time though, Bardroy and Tanaka have on some blonde wigs with pink bows attached. Also, instead of Grell being hung as a decoration, he is wearing a white, wedding dress.

He looks at Jazz and weeps.

"No, no, no! Why oh why?!" Grell yells.

"Yeah, we all know what you're feeling, mate, but calm down. You're not the only silly looking one here." Bardroy says.

Jazz looks around the area for Roger, and gets ready to head into the kitchen but she is pulled back by the waist. She turns around to find Grell hanging on to her, crying.

She frowns. "Um, excuse me..trying to move here, buddy." Jazz says.

"Why did this have to be?! Why oh why, dear Jazmine?" Grell asks.

Jazz groans. "...Okay, I'll bite. What is your problem now?" She asks.

Grell sniffles. "Your dress...a beautiful red masterpiece that speaks desire!..And I, dressed in white- a pure,...sacred...but untouchable color! I'll never be desirable, and I can't die without finding and consummating with my one true love!" Grell says.

"Wait, that's your problem with the dress?!" Bardroy yells.

"...I got to stop coming around these loonies." Jazz thinks.

She tries to push Grell off, but his grip is too strong.

"Listen Mr. Sutcliff, I'm in a hurry. How about I give you these rose pins? They'll technically make you redder, right?" Jazz says.

She takes out her hairpins and dumps them on Grell's head.

"Ah, Jazmine! Don't do that, that's rude!" Bardroy says.

"I never I said I was nice. In fact, I'm really not. Remember that." Jazz says.

Jazz pulls away from Grell and heads towards the dining room. However, Elizabeth comes out of nowhere and stops her. She pulls her into a hug, which Jazz nearly loses her ability to breath through.

"Hey, where do you think you're going, silly? We haven't even started dancing yet!" Elizabeth says.

"Um,..well Lizzie I was actually just looking for my raccoon pal, Roger." Jazz says.

"Wait, it's not a girl? Aw, I called her Bernadette and gave her such a cute makeover~" Elizabeth pouts. "Now I have to change it. "

"You did what?!" Jazz sighs. "You know what? Forget what I said..um, where is 'Bernadette'?" She asks.

Elizabeth points to Mey-Rin, who currently has Roger in her hands. He is wearing, a small yellow hat, and a very tiny yellow dress decorated with shiny sky blue beads. The dress is not so frilly, but it is quite puffy and looks difficult for Roger to move in. Elizabeth, picks him up, and she passes him to Jazz.

"Oh thank Zeus, I thought I lost you again." Jazz says, quietly.

"J-J-Jazzy...get me...out of this thing!" Roger tries to whisper.

Jazz tries to take off the dress, but it is fastened on him too tight. As she pulls at some strings, She accidently makes the dress tighter. Roger swats at her hands to get her to stop.

She sighs. "Don't worry fuzzball, I'll figure something out. Do you think you can manage until this ball's over?" She whispers.

"Let's just say...I have a 'package' coming out the 'back door' pretty soon, and I can't afford to miss it." Roger whispers.

She grimaces. "Eww. We need to leave. Like right now."

"Ooh! I almost forgot about your makeover, Mey-Rin~" Elizabeth says, excitedly.

"Ah! No, no I'm perfectly okay!" Mey-Rin says.

"No, no, no. We have to make you even cuter! Maybe we should try getting rid of these glasses." Elizabeth says.

Mey-Rin panics as Elizabeth starts reaching for her spectacles, but just in the nick of time, a voice caught everyone's attention.

"Oy, leave her be. She's fine." Ciel says.

Everyone turns to see Ciel dressed in an all blue outfit. He stood at the top of the steps with his walking stick and Sebastian at his side.

Elizabeth gasps. "Ciel! You're wearing the outfit I picked out~ Yay!" She cheers.

Ciel travels down the steps with Sebastian following after him. Elizabeth hurries over to meet him at the bottom of the steps.

"Aw, how cute!" Mey-Rin says.

"Hmph, earlier it seemed quite strange to think of her as his wife but now,..I don't know- it kind of just feels right." Bardroy says.

Jazz looks around and has noticed that everyone's attention has shifted to Ciel and Elizabeth. She smiles and looks down at Roger.

"Alright. Everyone is distracted. Let's initiate Operation: Bathroom now." Jazz whispers.

"Please and thank you." He whispers.

Jazz steps back, out of the rest of the servant's sights and starts walking towards the hallway, but she bumps into Grell. He is staring at her with a strange look.

Jazz frowns. "...Um, you're kinda in my way again, Mr. Sutcliff. You mind moving?"

Grell suddenly caresses Jazz's cheek, and she flinches.

"Oh you poor, little thing. All this must be making your heart strings play a sad, wiry tune." Grell says.

She takes Grell's hand off her face.

"Well, I never really imagined having an emotional despair over not getting to the bathroom in time, but you're starting to make me go through one." Jazz thinks.

"Oh yes! I know what's really bothering you." Grell says.

"You do? Wow, it's nice to see you continuing to waste your mind on trivial things. It's a step up from always trying to kill yourself." Jazz says.

Grell chuckles. "You can dish out all your prepubescent ire at me, but it won't solve your little problem, missy."

"And what is that 'O' Master of Solving Little Problems'?" Jazz asks.

Grell kneels down to Jazz and moves close to her ear. Being so close to her face, Jazz can see Grell's shark-like teeth. She bites her lip.

"You're jealous of Lady Elizabeth, aren't you?" He whispers.

After about of minute of silence, Grell backs away from Jazz.

She stares at Grell absolutely dumbfounded, and tries walking past him but he blocks her again.

"Ah, ah, ah! You can't just run away from all your problems, my dear. If you do that, how do you expect to ever get Master Ciel's attention?" Grell asks.

"...There are not enough words or phrases in the English language to describe how crazy I think you are, so I think I'll just settle for 'You're in looneyville, my friend.'. Good day." Jazz says.

"Tisk, tisk, young Jazz. You can deny it all you want, but I know there's some strong feelings there, and when you're ready for your trustworthy companion Grell to confide to, I'll be there~" Grell says as sparkles appear around him.

Jazz raises her brow at Grell, before walking off towards the hall. However, before she can finally make it out the door she hears some yelling going on. She turns back and sees Elizabeth having some sort of angry fit.

"Ciel...why aren't you wearing the ring I got you?" Elizabeth asks, angrily.

Ciel sweats. "The ring I have on is fine. It's irrelevant." He says.

"What?! Irrelevant?" Elizabeth cries. "B-b-b-but I picked it out, and everything, and...and…." She cries even louder.

Ciel reaches out his hand to Elizabeth to comfort her, but she stops crying and snatches the blue ring off his thumb.

"Hehe~ I got it!" Elizabeth says.

"Lizzie!" Ciel says loudly.

"There, now that I have this ugly thing, you can wear the one I bought." She giggles. "Then we can start having some fun and-

"Give it back!" Ciel says, coldly.

The aura changes, and things quickly get silent. All the servants are surprised, Jazz and Roger included. Ciel has his hand out, waiting for Elizabeth to return the ring, but she looks hurt, and afraid.

"Wh-what..why are you being so mean? All I wanted was to make you cute and…" Elizabeth says.

Ciel glares at her. "Give it back now, Elizabeth." He says.

"I..I..I HATE THIS THING!" Elizabeth yells.

Immediately, Elizabeth flings Ciel's ring onto the floor, and parts shatter into pieces. Ciel gets upset, and marches over to Elizabeth with his hand up, prepared to slap her. From where Jazz is watching, she looks in horror at Ciel.

"No!" Jazz yells.

Ciel stops suddenly and looks out at Jazz, who is rushing over to Elizabeth.

"...Oh...oh god, no." Ciel says.

Elizabeth starts crying on Jazz's shoulder. She hugs Elizabeth and rubs her back to comfort her.

"I..I can't believe he would hit her." She thinks.


	42. Let's Get Back To Adventuring, Please

With just one spark of anger, Ciel and Elizabeth managed to turn what could have been a fun night of ballroom dancing into an uncomfortable experience for everyone.

Right now, Jazz was holding Elizabeth. The girl is crying her eyes out while Ciel just stands a few feet away, panting. His hands are trembling, terribly. Thankfully before Ciel completely lost his composure, Sebastian steps in and places his cane in his hands.

"Young Master.." Sebastian smile. "You seem to have forgotten the walking stick we went through so much trouble to get this morning." He says.

Then Sebastian moves past him and towards Elizabeth.

"Forgive my master Lady Elizabeth, but that ring was something very important to him. It's a precious family heirloom passed down to the head of the Phantomhive family. A one of a kind. Please understand why this upset him. " He says as he places his hand over his heart.

Elizabeth sniffles. " It-it was that important...and I destroyed it?" She asks.

Jazz lets go of her and looks at the broken ring on the floor.

"Hm, well that's a pretty durable ring...wouldn't be too hard to fix either. And does Ciel really care about something simple as a piece of jewelry?" Jazz shakes her head. "Well, okay it is a part of his family's history but...is there possibly something more to it than that?" She thinks.

Interestingly enough, the only effective damage was a broken part of the band for one's finger. The blue gem remained intact and unscathed by the throwing.

Ciel picks up the ring, and walks by a nearby window. Elizabeth follows after him.

"Ciel, wait!" Elizabeth says.

Ciel tosses the ring out the window and turns around to face everyone. Everyone is shocked.

"Ciel, no! That ring was important to you.." Elizabeth says.

"It doesn't matter. I don't need it." Ciel taps his cane. "I'm still the head of the Phantomhive, and that will not change." He says, firmly.

 **Tug..tug..** Jazz looks over her shoulder and sees that Roger is practically suffocating at this point. Once he sees he has her attention, he urgently points toward the hall. Jazz nods, and slowly sneaks away from everyone's sight.

When Jazz reaches her bedroom, puts Roger on the table, reaches into her bag for her pocket knife, and uses it to cut the dress off Roger's body. He exhales and lets his pudgy belly sway freely.

"Well, I'm glad you could hold it in buddy, but now I think it's time we stop screwing around this manor and find Little Joe. You ready?" Jazz asks.

Roger's stomach gurgles. "Bathroom break first, then…" He raises his fist. "Adventure time!" He says.

Without hesitating, Roger scurries into the bathroom. Jazz opens her dresser and puts on her active gear. The two take some time to handle their business, and when they're finished, they climb outside the window. With Roger on her shoulder, she leaps from the roof onto a tree lending its branch out. She scales down the tree and the two make it outside the manor grounds. A full moon shines down on them.

Roger pants. "Man, that was some serious work we did getting out here! Whew! " He wipes his forehead.

"We? Oh yeah Roger. It must be hard work lying on my shoulder as I use all my strength to leap around like Tarzan." She pinches his cheek. "Poor baby~" Jazz says.

"Hey!...You got some thin shoulders here, girly! I practically have to wrap myself around ya' like a fur coat to make sure I don't fall off and die!" Roger yells.

"Shh! Not so loud…" She looks back at the manor. "I don't know how good his hearing is, but I'm sure that demon could probably hear someone out here." Jazz says.

"Pbbt! Yeah whatevs. That idiot is probably still busy trying to make sure Ol' One Eye doesn't take another swing at Polly Pocket." Roger says.

Jazz takes off her bookbag and goes fumbling through the bag.

"That was so awful. All she wanted to do was have a little dance. I didn't think it could escalate that quickly, but...well, I guess that's conflict. Anyway, I think there was something fishy about that ring." She says.

"What? What are you on about now?" Roger asks.

Jazz pulls out a small metal cube. It has a single green eye on top of it, and the pupil is blinking yellow. She puts it on the ground and kneels down.

"It's just another hunch I have, but I think that ring is more than just a family heirloom. But nevermind that. The only mystery we should be thinking about is this riddle." Jazz says.

"Heya, what's this thing you got here?" Roger asks.

"It's just something I figured we should start using if we want to get someplace on our own more quickly. I call it, the 'Eye Wander'. " Jazz says.

Roger snickers. "Geez louise, Jazzy. Next time you and the baby geniuses are coming up with a name for an invention, make sure I'm there to stop you." He says.

"Put a sock in it. What would you call it?" Jazz says.

Roger begins to stroke the fur on his chin. "Hold on, give me a minute. I've got to get my creative juices flowin.'" He says.

Jazz rolls her eyes and presses the blinking pupil on the "Eye Wander" device. Suddenly, the device transforms into a small, child sized, silver bumper car. The single green eye splits into two. They move on each side of the bumper car.

Roger hops right in, eagerly.

He grins. "Holy smokes,we got wheels.." He looks below the car. "Wait a minute, what?!" He shouts.

Jazz climbs inside the car. "What's the problem?" She asks.

"Um, how do I break this to you gently without hurting your feelings?...We don't have any wheels!" Roger says.

"Yeah, so?" Jazz asks.

"So, how the heck do you expect this thing to move?" Roger asks.

"Easy. Like this." Jazz says.

Jazz presses a yellow button on the dashboard of the bumper car and a holographic screen appears in front of her and Roger. She presses her hand on the screen, which activates the entire car. Instantly, the car's engine starts up, the green eyes slide underneath the car, and it begins hovering in the air.

"Wow….this is crazy." Roger hops in Jazz's lap. "How does it work?" He asks.

"Ironically, I guess you could just think of it as Isaac Newton's third law of motion, but with magnets instead." Jazz says.

She points to underneath the car, and Roger jumps on her shoulder to get a better look. The two eyes are actually floating underneath, no longer touching the car. Jazz jumps up and down in the car some, and it causes the eyes to bounce downwards onto the ground, but they slowly float back up.

"You see that? The eyes and the car are both super magnets, and so when you have two magnets with the same charge facing the same direction, you get a repelling force. With those two things opposing each other, it'll keep the "Eye Wander" afloat." Jazz says.

"Hm, so you can drive this thing, right?...Like those magnets won't get in the way?" Roger asks.

Jazz nods. "Sure. It handles like any other bumper car at the carnival…" She frowns. "Though, I haven't really tested it yet.."

Roger facepalms. "Oh sweet, caramel gods, please protect us." He says.

He moves back over to his seat and buckles up, with three restraints. Jazz nervously pushes her feet on the pedal and only hopes she and Roger don't end up in an accident...


	43. The Darkness Begins

**Zoooooooooooom!**

That sound started echoing on the road! Jazz and Roger were currently resisting the urge to completely fly out of their new vehicle, the Eye Wander. They managed to get out of the dirt road leading away from Ciel's manor and reach the streets of London. The bumper car was spiraling out of control, but there weren't any civilians around to potentially endanger….or at least they thought.

 **BAM!** Jazz and Roger hit something and find themselves launching out of their seats straight into the air. The two both had their seatbelts on but the material was highly elastic, so it didn't do well to restrain them. Their seat belts act fling them right back down into the car. Disoriented and slightly dazed, Jazz tries to look around to see the damage they caused. She takes off her seat belt, and stumbles out of the car. Her legs wobble, and she had a hard time pulling her thoughts together.

Jazz retches. " I thought my heart stopped there for a second…" She turns to Roger. "Hey..you okay?" She slurs.

Roger's claws are piercing deep into the seat of the car and his face is frozen on one expression: Terror. His fur is sticking up, taking on a more spiky texture. He turns his head to speak to Jazz, but can't say anything.

"Uh oh...well at least I prepared." She thinks.

She takes off her book bag, takes out a blue bottle labeled "Clarity". She drinks it and her face is no longer dazed.

She smiles and pulls Roger out of the car. "Come on little buddy, let's see if we can manage on foot to find this so called Newton street."

Jazz gives Roger a sip of the blue "Clarity" bottle, and his body jolts upwards while in her arms.

"Whoa! I feel…..GREAT! What was in that juice, Angel?" He asks.

"Oh nothing special. Just a little bit of clarity…." Jazz says.

Roger grimaces. "...Jazzy, I have no words for you..again."

"What? What would you call it?" Jazz asks.

"I don't know! The 'Rejuvenator Cocktail'? Anything is better than that stupid, cliche, punny name you and your buddies came up with." Roger says.

Jazz rolls her eyes. "Whatever. Shawna thought it was clever, and so do Ron and I. She basically created a chemical substance that helps the mind, and body feel clearer. You could practically call it the essence of clarity."

Roger climbs on to her shoulder, and she places the bottle back in her book bag. Then she pulls out the map finder and turns it on.

"Maybe you wouldn't need a bottle like that if you just eased off the brakes in that death machine over there." Roger says.

Jazz types into the map finder, and watches as the screen shows a layout of the streets of London. Roger points to "Newton St." shown within the layout. Jazz taps it, and the screen shows a hologram of places on Newton street. The houses/businesses have address numbers on them, and Jazz notices that some of them are three digit numbers. She pulls out the riddle from the side of her book bag and looks it over.

Jazz gasps. "Roger, I think I was wrong..the numbers nine and twenty aren't a date,- and maybe not even a time. I think it's part of the person's address." She passes the riddle to Roger.

"But what I don't understand is how they expected us to find them without a complete address. This was difficult, and they didn't make it any easier by being so vague in their message. This might not have been done by someone...astute." Jazz says.

"Angel, let's just be grateful we were able to figure out all this crap and call it a win." He grins. "When we find this idiot, then you can be all angry and beat 'em down!" Roger says.

Jazz shakes her head. "I'm not angry...I'm just worried about who has Little Joe. They must not have thought this through, and if they really did lose someone close to them they're probably not in a good place mentally." She says.

Jazz clicks on the building with the numbers 'nine hundred twenty' on it. The screen shows a tall building adjoining a flower shop and a jewelry store.

"Huh? That's weird. It's next to two stores, but it looks like some kind of apartment." Jazz says.

Roger looks up at the street signs and sees one nearby. He tugs on Jazz's hair, and points at the street sign.

" 'Baker street'. Hm, let's type it in and see a route to Newton street." Jazz says.

She types in their location and the map finder shows the way as well as an estimated time to make it to Baker street. Jazz turns back towards the Eye Wander. She stops.

"Oh my grapes...what is that?!" She thinks.

…...Overlooking the dent on the front of the Eye Wander, there were some noticeable smears of blood on the hood. She runs over to car and checks the front for any sign of a person.

Roger sniffs around. "Uh….Jazzy, I don't like that smell.." He says.

The darkness of the night almost made it difficult to see, but Jazz discovers a deceased body. A mangled, viciously sliced up, bloody corpse of a female. Roger is frightened and jumps inside Jazz's bookbag. Jazz kneels down to the body and touches it, getting some blood on her hands. She looks back at the Eye Wander, then at the corpse.

"We couldn't have done this..I mean, look at her. She's been mutilated and cut all over." She strokes her chin. "I wonder what kind of weapon would be powerful enough to cut through bone like this so..so brutally." Jazz says.

Roger peeks from the book bag. "Jazzy, l-let's just get outta here! I think we have enough mysteries on our plate tonight!" He yells.

Jazz rises. "I don't think we should just leave her,..but we do have to find who took Little Joe.". She sighs. "Okay, alright. We should go….but let me at least get a picture."

"You want a what?!" Roger shudders. "Jazzy, I like you and all, but sometimes you just creep me out...I mean what in the blue heavenly skies would you actually want a picture for?! You making a haunted scrapbook or something?" He yells.

Jazz takes her phone from her pocket. "No, you jerk, I'm just curious." She takes the picture. "There's a lot of weird things in this city I've noticed. It almost tops Holiday's chaos, but it's more _deadly,_ and don't think I'm crazy, but I kind of like it~" She says.

"..Oh god...my girl...a potential murderer!" Roger sobs. "How could this have happened?!" He yells.

Jazz hops into the Eye Wander and places her book bag next to her. She fastens her and Roger's seat belts, and puts her hands on the wheel.

"I can't believe you're actually trying to drive this monster of a car again! Are you crazy?" Roger says.

"This time I'm going to be smarter, and not press so much on the accelerator." Jazz flips a switch on the dashboard. "And maybe turning down the sensitivity some will help out too." She says.

"Are you kidding me? You had some setting you could mess with so we wouldn't crash? Evil! You like pain don't ya'? You nut!" Roger yells.

She glares at him. "Like I said before, I hadn't tested it out yet."

Through with talking, Jazz gently puts pressure on the accelerator pedal and the car starts moving at a slow pace. Once Jazz felt more confident, she presses her foot harder, and the two started flying through the streets. She places her map finder into the dashboard of the Eye Wander and checks out the GPS route to Baker Street. The estimated time to reach there was about thirteen minutes, but at the decent speed they are going, the trip takes about seven minutes.

They reached the tall building the map finder projected earlier. Viewing it in person was a bit different, though. The house looked somewhat beat down compared to the holographic projection they saw. Jazz put on her book bag, and Roger climbed out of it to sit on her shoulder.

She walks up to the house and looks around.

"Hm, well we're in luck. The windows show some light, so someone's here and awake." Jazz takes a deep breath. "I wonder how I'm even going to say this to them."

"Relax, Jazzy. If things get ugly, you know I'll be there with a surprise ninja attack to bring 'em down." Roger says, confidently.

Jazz lets out a sigh and walks up to the door. She knocks twice and patiently waits for an answer.

"Mm..what's in there?" Jazz thinks.

She takes a peek into the house by the nearby window, and sees a fresh roll of bandages on an end table. However, before she can make anything out of that, someone answers the door. A very young woman dressed in a pink sleeping gown with slippers greets her at the door. The woman is rubbing her right eye and flinches when she gets a good look at Jazz.

"..Not exactly what I was expecting. I hope I'm at the right place." Jazz thinks.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Are you okay little girl?" The woman asks.

"...Where is he?" Jazz asks.

"..Little one, your hand is..it's-it's covered in blood. We should get you inside, and get it taken care of." The woman says while trying to usher Jazz in.

Jazz remains standing outside and just stares at the woman.

"I just don't get it. She doesn't match what I expected at all. She's probably about Michelle's age, so she must have parents here. More importantly, she's not threatening...she doesn't even look like she likes dogs. They're high energy creatures who like to play. Her body is pudgy and lacks muscle definition, meaning she's not very active." Jazz thinks.

"Do you have parents who look after you? Do they live here?" The woman asks.

Jazz sighs. "Well whatever. Maybe someone in her apartment sent out this riddle. She could point me in the right direction, at least." She thinks.

She pulls out the riddle from her book bag and shows it to the woman. She woman squints to read it.

"Someone from this address left this letter at my current estate. They stole a dog that doesn't belong to me, and told me to come here because they needed my help. All I wanna know is, do you know who could have sent this?" Jazz asks.

The woman finishes reading the riddle and looks behind her. She turns back around and kneels to Jazz.

"Come inside. It's not safe out there." The woman says.

Jazz shakes her head. "The only safety I care about right now is my friend's dog, Little Joe. So unless he's in there, I'm not setting one foot inside." She says.

She is about to step away, but the woman grabs her by the arm and yanks her inside the house.


	44. Twisted Fates

The woman shuts the door while still yanking on Jazz's arm. She guides her over to the living room area. The room consists of a receptionist desk, a small green loveseat, a matching green chair, and a dusty old, bookshelf. The woman forces Jazz to sit on the couch with her, and grabs at her bloody hand to inspect it.

"How could there be so much blood?...Wait, there aren't any cuts?!" the woman thinks.

"What have you been doing, little girl?" She asks.

Jazz hides her hand. "Tell me what you know about the riddle, and maybe I'll tell you about my hand."

The woman frowns. "Could you at least tell me your name?" She asks.

Jazz crosses her arms. " Jazz...what's yours?"

"Cynthia. Cynthia Patterson." She glances at the end table. "You know, I think we should really do something about that hand of yours." Cynthia says.

"It's fine. Tell me about the riddle." Jazz says.

Cynthia gets up from the couch and picks up the bandages.

Jazz sighs. "What is she doing? And who leaves bandages out for all their guests to see?" She thinks.

Cynthia sits back down on the couch.

"I'm sorry. I never thought this could bring someone so young into danger..I just wanted to help." Cynthia says.

She wraps the bandage around Jazz's hand, but there is something actually inside the bandage!

"..W-what is this?" Jazz asks.

In the palm of her hands she feels a small metal object. She unfolds part of the bandage and sees that it is a rusty metal key tucked inside.

"Why?" Jazz asks.

"You'll get your answers if you come this way." Cynthia says.

She grabs a candelabra from another end table, and begins leading Jazz down a hallway. In this hall, there are doors that house the occupants of the apartment. Cynthia travels downstairs to the basement. It is dark down there, but the candelabra illuminates the room as the two females walk pass. Cynthia stops once they reach a door.

"Huh? The label says "000". What is this room?"

Jazz tugs on Cynthia's arm. "Is this a special room?" She asks.

"I prefer to think of it more as temporarily non existent at this point, but…." Cynthia smiles. "-you'll see soon enough. Go on now, open it..I promise you won't be disappointed." She says.

Jazz grabs the key, and sticks it in the lock.

"I'm such an idiot if this is a trap." Jazz thinks.

She hesitates twisting the key, but Cynthia pats her on the shoulder.

"I mean it. It's what brought you here." Cynthia says.

She quickly opens the door…..

In the room lay a small, brown canine, drifting soundly off to sleep on a cheap wool rug. However, that wasn't all Jazz saw...

"...Who the heck is that?" She thinks.

There was a wide hammock, currently being used by a man. This man however, face was covered by a scruffy looking blanket.

"Mm. Maybe he was the only person living here that could put up with a dog." Jazz thinks.

Jazz enters the room slowly, kneels down to Little Joe and starts petting his stomach. The dog is still asleep, but he involuntarily starts wagging his tail.

"Aw, he's so cute." Jazz sighs. "And well kept. I wonder..did he even struggle when he was taken?" She thinks.

Roger hops off Jazz's shoulder and curls up against Little Joe.

"Dang, this dog is pretty warm." He purrs. "I could get used to this." Roger whispers.

Jazz shakes her head. "He's not a heating pad, Roger." She says.

"What was that?" Cynthia asks.

"Oh nothing." She stops petting Little Joe. "Thank you so much for bringing him back, but there's a few things I don't understand." Jazz stands up.

"Why would you do this? If you wanted my help so much, why do this? It doesn't make any sense.." Jazz says.

Cynthia kneels. "I'm sorry, he needs you, and I thought…" She smacks her head. "Oh I don't know! I thought this would help him get your attention."

"He? Who is..." Jazz begins.

She looks at the man in the hammock, storms over to the bed, and snathces the covers off the man. The guy shrieks, and she gets a pretty good glimpse at him. He had bruises around his cheeks and nose. Bandages wrapped around his head, hands, and a cast on his leg! Looking past these scars, it didn't take long for her to realize who this was.

Jazz gasps. "...Joseph?"

"..I guess it must be faith, huh?" Joseph says.

"B-but t-that's impossible! I saw you!...You were dead. There was blood everywhere." She rubs her eyes. "You're not a ghost, are you?" Jazz asks.

"Hehe, no..Jazz, you saved my life." He grabs Jazz's hand. "In fact, if you hadn't defeated the Ghost Hound, I probably wouldn't have gotten out of Houndsworth at all. I owe you so much." Joseph says.

"...Joseph, I'm glad you're alive…The only thing I was thinking was that I got you killed." Jazz says.

She hugs Joseph, roughly, but he starts wincing in pain and she backs off.

"Oopsies, I'm sorry! You're still in pain." Jazz says.

"What?" He smiles. "No, no. It's only been a few weeks, but I'm well." Joseph says.

Jazz looks at Joseph's cast and grimaces.

"Yeah...sure." She thinks.

Cynthia moves over towards them, holding the riddle in her hands. She hand it to Jazz and uses her free hand to check on Joseph's bruises.

"Joseph, you're not well. Those villagers hurt you, and… it was my fault." Jazz says.

"What are you talking about? This wasn't your fault..." Joseph says.

"Why else would they do this to you? They thought I was a witch and that stupid mayor wanted you dead because you brought me in with you." Jazz says.

He waves his hands. "No. That wasn't it." Joseph sighs.

"I was on my third strike with Mayor Barrymore already. It's very easy to go against his rules before you are outcasted as a 'bad dog'." Joseph says.

"A bad dog?" Jazz asks.

"Houndsworth has ties to dogs, of course. They cast trouble makers with a silly title, 'bad dog'. One of the popular sayings is, 'a good dog is white, a bad dog is black.'"

"That sounds...arbitrary." Jazz thinks.

"So you see, I'm kind of a screw up and Mayor Barrymore kept track of it. I always messed up at my job in the supply store, I didn't wear the right clothing sometimes, and I didn't join in the dog fighting riots. He was agitated with me and my family not conforming to village norms." Joseph says.

He looks at Little Joe. "When I brought you and your dog in, that was the final straw for Mayor Barrymore. One of Houndsworth's rules is to never let a stray in, for it brings bad fortune to the village's prosperity. Letting in your dog spooked them all, but what else would I have done? He belongs to you so why would I shoo him away?" Joseph says.

"My dog? Wait, he's not yours?" Jazz asks.

He shakes his head. "Not at all. I didn't own any dogs, and I thought since he was standing over you.." Joseph begins.

"Well that's...unexpected." She looks at the riddle. "But it explains why you took Little Joe." Jazz says.

"You named him Little Joe?" Joseph asks.

"Yeah. I thought he was yours, and when we went looking for you it seemed fitting to name him after you…" She blushes. "It feels really stupid now, though."

He chuckles. "That's sweet of you. I called him 'Gregory', but I think I like your name better." Joseph says.

"You still haven't explained to me the other half of the riddle. Who have you lost and why do need my help?" Jazz asks.

"-Actually, it wasn't Joseph that sent that..I did." Cynthia says.

"What? She lost someone?" Jazz thinks.

"When he wandered around town, staggering in pain I just had to help! Then he told me what happened and I thought up this plan. Perhaps taking your pet would be incentive for you to help him." She looks down. "I realize now that it wasn't the best of ideas." Cynthia says.

"What is she talking about? What happened?" Jazz asks.

Joseph frowns. "...My little sister. She's still at the village, and I couldn't get to her." He starts to cry. "I almost lost my life searching for her, but I-I had to escape!"

"You did what you needed to do to survive." Jazz says.

"Well, I'm not exactly well enough to go off finding her myself right now." Joseph gestures at his cast. "But you, if you could defeat an evil Ghost Hound, you must be able to save my sister, Jocelyn." He says, wiping his eyes.

"How could you, a young child could accomplish such?" Cynthia says.

Jazz looks away. "Bajeebs! What have I gotten into now?" She frowns. "...No, what have I gotten this man into?..I do owe him. He's hurting, and..it's not fair." She thinks.

"So, can you help me?" Joseph asks.

She sighs. "I'm sorry this happened...but I promise you, I'm going to find your sister." She strokes her chin. "But I'm going to need more information, and time." Jazz says.

"Of course! We can discuss it right now." Joseph says.

Cynthia pats his shoulder. "Joseph maybe we should think about another time. Jazz is a maid at the Phantomhive manor, and I'm not sure it would be okay to-

"No. This is more important right now. So let's talk." Jazz says.


	45. New Resolutions

"So tell me, how did you defeat the Ghost Hound?" Joseph asks.

Possibly the most fun that could be had after a troublesome chain of events was a simple chat. It may not exactly be as interesting as adventuring, but it could still create a sense of excitement if you had a fascinating enough tale to tell. For both Jazz and Joseph, they had experienced incredible events that many people may not have believed and thus the conversation wouldn't necessarily stimulate excitement.

 _The existence of a Ghost Hound? Pbbt! Or the idea of a young child taming a gigantic wolf beast that breathed fire? Puh-leaze!_...But to someone as inexperienced and dull as Cynthia Patterson, a conversation about those two things had her nearly jumping out of her skin with thrill!

Jazz is sitting on the floor, petting Little Joe. Her raccoon pal Roger had fallen asleep while curling up next to the dog. Cynthia has taken out a stool from a corner of the room and was sitting on it.

"I didn't defeat it. I just…'distracted' it...Is that what you really call him, the 'Ghost Hound'?" Jazz asks.

"Of course. Houndsworth is best known for being haunted by a killer Ghost Hound." Joseph says.

"Wow! That's so bizarre. Has there always been one there?" Cynthia asks.

"Well I believe so. However, I wouldn't know that well since I've only heard some stories. A lot of the villagers don't like talking about it." Joseph says.

"I don't think it was a ghost that nearly sunk me into the ground like a missile." Jazz mumbles.

"Wait, did it look ghostly at all to you? Describe it." Cynthia says.

"What attacked me was a giant, white furry wolf with red eyes." She reaches for her book bag. "What I found out later through sources is that the creature is a demon hound." Jazz says.

Joseph and Cynthia both gasp.

"This looks like a good time to read over some reference notes on supernaturals." Jazz thinks.

Jazz reaches into her book bag and takes out a notepad filled with her observations and research. She flips through the pages and stops on a page titled "Demon Hound".

Jazz shows the page. "See? This beast is not a ghost at all. They are demonic creatures that shape shift from beast to human." She says.

"How is that possible? It's fiction, isn't it?" Joseph says.

Jazz scoffs. "So you and your village believe in crazy ghost dogs, but not demonic beasts?" She asks.

Joseph shakes his head. "People have seen it in person! It casts a green glow and leaves trails." He says.

"Wow, it sounds ghost like!" She turns to Jazz. "What else does it do?" Cynthia asks.

Jazz closes her notepad. "If we're still talking about a demon hound, they are easily persuaded by certain people." She sighs. "At this point, though I'm not sure about what specifically encourages their actions."

"Wait, wait. What are you trying to say? Joseph asks.

"..I'm not saying anything yet. I'm just letting know what I think about this so called "Ghost Hound.". If the villagers there think they see a ghost, then I can only accept that they aren't lying about what they see. But that doesn't mean they are correct about it being a ghost."

"Hm, it's not so far fetched when you talk about it this way. But I must say, without much proof it's quite a bold assumption." Cynthia says.

"Maybe it's silly speculation, but from what I heard, the mayor is hiding something from everyone. And that maid too.." Jazz thinks.

"...In any case, do you think finding and rescuing Jocelyn will be difficult?" Joseph asks.

"You are her only relative there, right?" Jazz asks.

He frowns. "Yes,..our parents died some years ago to the um,..the demon hound and we don't have anyone else." Joseph says, sadly.

Cynthia pats Joseph on the back. "You have our condolences, Joseph." She says.

"If she's left alone with no one there to care for her, what would the village do about that?" Jazz asks.

Joseph fiddles with his fingers. "Well, Jocelyn likes playing with James's dogs. He might have taken her in." He says.

"Uh, James?" Jazz asks.

"Oh he's a dog trainer at the village. He has many dogs and I guess he does a good job." He grimaces. "Though I do remember a couple of times some dogs got into our yard, and ate the chickens.." He mutters.

Jazz opens her notepad and starts writing in it. Joseph tries standing up, but almost falls. Cynthia catches him and gives him his wooden crutches. He walks over to Jazz and she looks up from her notes..

"You shouldn't be up on your feet like that." Jazz says.

"I just want to say, thank you for everything." Joseph says.

She frowns. "Joseph, I got you brutally beaten up, separated from your sister, and exiled from your home...why would you thank me for that?" Jazz asks.

"What are you saying? I've gotten to explore a whole new world. You've opened up my eyes to life in the city." Joseph looks at Cynthia. "And rational, compassionate people. Without you, I could never experience this freedom, and so I just want thank you." Joseph says.

He pats her on the head.

She stands up. "I'll bring her back, Joseph." Jazz says.

…

Back at the Phantomhive manor, Ciel dances with the smiling, cheerful Elizabeth Midford. While Jazz sneaked away, Ciel had switched his tune and showed off a kinder, gentler side to Lizzie. Elizabeth couldn't be more than happier and to turn around the negative mood, Sebastian had taken out out a violin. He was playing a charming song for the young couple to dance to.

Bardroy gasps. "What? He can play the violin? Man, what else is this guy good at?" He says.

"Oh he's amazing!" Mey-Rin sighs, happily.

Grell fawns over Sebastian from afar.

"Oh my, what a beautiful sight!" Grell thinks.

He jumps up with excitement listening to Sebastian's beautiful melody.

"Ah, I think I can match his key!" He says.

Grell runs over to the steps near Sebastian and starts singing along with the tune of the violin. The three musketeers are all shocked at Grell's singing abilities. Honestly though, I don't think it was too out of the ordinary compared to his other abilities: magically conjuring up items to commit suicide with, and doing almost everything in his power to mess up the simplest of tasks.

Without much effort, the ball was pulled off successfully. Elizabeth tires out and rests against Ciel's shoulder while they danced. Ciel kept a hold of Lizzie, who was clearly ready for bed but she wasn't the only one drifting off. Ciel's mind was distracted, or fixated I should say with thoughts about one person.

"...She saw that." Ciel's brain repeats.

"To talk with her...what would she see in me?" He thinks.

He was the head of the Phantomhive family, a nobleman, a businessman, and Jazz...Who was she?

It had been weeks she'd been here now, and Ciel barely knew anything about her.

When she taught him how to dance, that was truly the only moment they spent together where he got to see her true personality shine through.

"Jazmine, why do you run away from me? Do you not care or do you resist the same urges I have?..." Ciel thinks.


	46. You Can't Deny This Strangeness!

_**Tis another day for mystery and surprise! Who dare get in the way of our young heroine's quests?**_

Around seven o'clock in the morning, Cynthia Patterson and Jazz Truman were taking a carriage ride through the streets of London. Cynthia had switched from her night gown attire into something more formal. It was a puffy black and white pinstripe dress. She also wore a white apron and cap on her head. Her curly, dark brown hair was pulled back into a low bun. Jazz's companion Roger is lying in her book bag, and the dog was in the front of the carriage. He looks around, sticking his tongue out. Ah, to bask in the cool, morning breeze!

"-Apologies again for giving you a difficult time with the riddle. Though, I am amazed you figured it out so quickly!" Cynthia says.

"Well it wasn't exactly easy, lady! You left some cryptic message that focused more on being vague than leaving any hints to your location." Jazz thinks.

Jazz shakes her head. "I'm sure if it took me longer then you would have just sent a more obvious clue."

"Oh!…" She chuckles, nervously. "Yes. I certainly would have thought that…" Cynthia says.

"Mm." Jazz looks at Cynthia's dress.

"Hey."

"Ah, yes?" Cynthia asks.

"Who are you?" Jazz asks.

"Me?" She smiles. "I thought I introduced myself to you earlier. I'm Cynthia Patterson. You can call me Cynthia or Miss Patterson. Whatever you like!" She says.

"No, I know your name. I meant.." Jazz tugs at Cynthia's dress. "-your um, outfit. Do you work in a hospital or something?"

"Yes, mam! I am the youngest apprentice nurse here in London. It's spectacular!...Well what the doctor gets to do anyway. I'm simply an assistant, but I do know much of scientific things." She leans in close to Jazz. "I study books in my daddy's study when he's not around." She whispers..

"Wow, that's interesting. I bet you see a lot of gorey stuff in there." Jazz says.

"Hehe, quite right!" She grimaces. "And, it's not a pretty sight- not one bit. Though, it's more exciting than being a maid for my mummy and daddy's apartment." Cynthia says.

"So her parents own that building?" Jazz thinks.

"Do they know about Joseph staying there?" She asks.

"Oh heavens no! If they found out I was letting a person- A GENTLEMAN- stay at the apartment without paying, I'd be disowned!" Cynthia says.

"Bajeebs, would they really do that? I can't imagine my dad being like that...Then again, we don't live in Victorian London." Jazz thinks.

She shakes her head. "No, it must be kept a secret. Having that dog there was a risk. It's a relief to see you take him back!" Cynthia says.

"I'm glad to know he's fine, but I'd feel better if he had an owner to take care of him." Jazz thinks.

She stares at Little Joe. "Say, how did you find out I work for Mr. Phantomhive?" Jazz asks.

Cynthia sighs. "Um, well pardon my intrusiveness, but that took some time. Joseph wasn't exactly in a good state to describe you well, and he didn't know your last name."

"...It was him? He led her to me?" Jazz thinks.

"I got lucky. When he told me that you were a youngling, I thought to ask around the city. Asking children on the streets and parents. That didn't get me far, but then I gathered that an orphanage could shelter you. I had visited the main three in the city. 'Hopeful Beginnings', 'The Lost Hearts', and 'Constantine's Children'." Cynthia says.

"..I didn't realize there were so many homes. Geez, these times were bad." Jazz thinks.

"Nearly giving up, I stumbled upon an unlikely place." Cynthia says.

"Paddington." Jazz says.

Cynthia smiles at Jazz. "The woman who owned the home had very nice things to say about you. Did you know that?"

Jazz looks away. "Oh, well..I kind of helped her.."

"Kind of? Hehe, no need to be modest here! She told me you were like a masked angel sent from the heavens.." Cynthia says.

Jazz grimaces. "...Uh oh." She mumbles.

Cynthia looks at Jazz. "In fact, you weren't much of a talker there, either...Azmin?" She asks.

"Uh..-

Cynthia squeals. "You have secrets don't you?! I bet you're a distant traveler or something of the like. Doing special assignments wherever in the world!"

Jazz scoots away. "Ugh! Why is she so loud? And what assignments does she think little kids have? My history report?!" She thinks.

She grins at Jazz. "Are you an agent? Do you have weapons? Is that why your hand was bloody yesterday? You finished killing some person?"

Jazz glares at her. "What in Zeus's name is wrong with this lady? She's nuttier than Kerina! Heck, she's nuttier than me!" She thinks.

"Well?" Cynthia asks.

"Are you nuts? I'm just a little girl." Jazz says.

Cynthia narrows her eyes at Jazz. "Hm, a little girl that can fight a supernatural beast?"

"..What can I say? I barely escaped with my life from that monster, and besides...it wasn't really a fight. More of a hit..and run." Jazz says.

"You made a promise to find Joseph's sister! I doubt a normal little girl would just commit to something like that if they thought they couldn't handle it." Cynthia smiles wide. "You obviously are a confident agent!" She says.

"How hard would it be to just snag Jocelyn? He said she's around my age. Even a five year old could do that..." Jazz says.

She purses her lips. "Hmmmmmm…... Sorry, but no." Cynthia says.

Immediately, Cynthia stops the horses, halting the carriage ride. Jazz is caught off guard, and nearly falls out of the front seat.

"Hey! What's your deal?" Jazz says.

"I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing that you're just an ordinary child. And until you admit it, I'm not taking you back. Hmph! " Cynthia smirks.

She glares at Cynthia. "Admit what?" Jazz asks.

"Admit that you are a secret agent! Ooh! Or maybe a detective!...Yes, anyone one of those two, admit to one." Cynthia says.

Jazz facepalms. "You cannot be serious." She thinks.

"Oh? No confession?" Cynthia smiles. "Well, I think I'll just get up and go for a stroll about town~ "

Cynthia gets up from the carriage.

"I've got a few hours before I should prepare for work, so I think I'll leave you here to ponder about..things. Toodles!" She says.

Cynthia walks away and heads towards nearby stores. A small crowd seems to be developing around one.

"Ugh! I cannot believe this horse hockey." Jazz says.

Roger crawls out of her book bag and onto Jazz's shoulder.

"So Nurse Jackie over there thinks she can force us to tell our tales..to be told?" He starts shaking his fist. "That broad is crazy if she thinks we'll talk!" Roger says.

Little Joe licks Roger, but he pushes the dog back.

She sighs. "You heard how obsessed she is. I don't think we really have a choice." Jazz says.

She gets out of the carriage.

"What?! What are you talking about? We have the ultimate choice right here! " Roger says. He pulls out the Eye Wander.

"Yeah only one problem though: We're in broad daylight. I can't just go around riding in a floating bumper car! It'll look crazy, and they might think I'm some witch. Then it'll be Houndsworth all over again." Jazz says.

He smacks his teeth. "Well that blows! That stupid **BUTT**..LER got his hands on your phone, and you weren't freaking out then!" Roger says.

"I am still freaking out about that. I don't know what he saw, or what he was doing on there! But I know he hasn't gone around telling everyone, so I don't have to worry as much about it." Jazz says.

She points to the Eye Wander. "This though..it's too dangerous." Jazz says.

"..Fine. But what are we gonna do? Huh?" Roger asks.

"Relax. I'm not gonna spill every single freaking detail about us. I'll just tell her what she wants to hear, and she'll eventually get off my back...maybe." Jazz says.

She walks towards Cynthia and the crowd of people. The crowd has gotten bigger. This forces Jazz to have to squeeze by everyone to reach Cynthia. Jazz finds Cynthia kneeling over a figure.

"..Oh. I forgot about you.." Jazz says.

A corpse of a woman was on the ground.

Cynthia gasps. "Jazz, you shouldn't be looking at this!" She says.

"Too late." Jazz kneels and touches the body. "I saw her yesterday." She says.

The crowd behind the two ladies yell, rightfully disturbed.

"So...that's why your hand was-" Cynthia begins.

Jazz nods. "This woman..she's been cut up badly. I wasn't sure what tool could have been used to do this type of slicing against bone." She squints. "Mm. It looks so much clearer now in the daylight."

She lifts up the dress of the corpse and starts patting around the corpse's lower region. She follows the direction of the slicing.

Cynthia checks the corpse's hands.

"This woman wasn't married it seems. Nor, did she manage to get a sample of DNA from her killer." Cynthia says.

"Huh? So she didn't struggle?" Jazz thinks.

"I guess that means it was a surprise attack, but what weapon could someone use where they wouldn't need to be at close enough range? These cuts are numerous, and deep!" Jazz says.

 **"Hey, you two there!" A loud voice called out.**


	47. Two Trips Through Town and Banter

"Hey, you two there!" A loud voice called out.

Jazz and Cynthia turn around. A tall, red haired man with a light brown trench coat and hat appears in the distance. He rushes over to them.

"Whoa, who's the suit?" Jazz thinks.

Cynthia bites her nails. "Oh lord, I'm in trouble!" She thinks.

The man finally reaches them, out of breath. In his hand, he has a small stack of papers.

He pants. "You..-you can't be over here!"

Jazz frowns. "Says who?"

"Uh, um..We're truly sorry Mr. Abberline, sir! I know we shouldn't be interfering with your investigating, but I guess it's just a nurse's force of habit. " Cynthia chuckles, nervously.

Jazz gasps. "Abberline? Like..the Frederick Abberline who investigated the Jack the Ripper murders?"

"Ah yes, but I am still in the process of investigating said murders." He kneels. "And a little girl like you shouldn't be wandering around a crime scene like this. Where are your parents?" Abberline asks.

Jazz smiles. "Holy cheese! This is probably the coolest thing to ever see in the history of history!" She twirls around. "It's like being in a movie, but with real stuff really, really happening~"

Abberline grimaces. "Miss Patterson, is she alright?"

"What has gotten into her so suddenly? How strange!" Cynthia thinks.

She stands up and holds Jazz. "Oh, um…" She smiles. "She's just a little starstruck right now because you're her favorite detective!"

Cynthia nudges Jazz. "Right, little Jazz?"

Jazz sighs, happily. "You are the most amazing person in history ever! I always love reading about you and your efforts~"

He blushes. "Uh...well" He chuckles. "That's very thoughtful of you to say, um Jazz is it?" Abberline asks.

Jazz nods and there is an awkward silence.

"Ahem, well as I said earlier. This is no place for a child. Miss Patterson, have your parents taken her in?" Abberline asks.

"Well...not exactly, but.." Cynthia begins.

"Please escort her to a more appropriate place while Lord Randall and I investigate the body. " He says.

"Good luck, Mr. Abberline." Cynthia says.

The two females return to the horse and carriage, but Cynthia hesitates taking off.

She grins. "You surely are an unusual one, and now I'm assured you're an agent! You must require an assistant with your mission, right?"

"Miss Patterson, I can't just let innocent people get involved with…" Jazz looks away. "-nevermind. Just nevermind."

"Please, I want to help you! And not just with this, I bet I could help you retrieve Jocelyn. We could be a great team!" She smirks. "There are certain things a child can't get away with doing, but me on the other hand.." Cynthia says.

"You're a teenager. How could you get away with more stuff than me?" Jazz asks.

Cynthia taps her cap. "I'm not your average girl, I'll have you know! I'm practically an adult."

Jazz sighs. "..It's not the worst thing..and it would be harder to do this alone.." She thinks.

She crosses her arms. " Alright, but you can't tell anyone about anything that we're doing, and don't go getting yourself in danger. Okay?"

"Yes, of course!" Mum's the word." Cynthia says.

"I'm serious. I don't want to see anyone else hurt." Jazz says.

"You don't have to worry about me. In fact, I know a lot about being 'sneaky'." Cynthia looks around, cautiously.

Jazz rolls her eyes. "Great...um, can I get that ride back now?"

"Yes indeed! And while I'm at work, I can gather more information about that victim's corpse and contact you. It'll be most exciting!" Cynthia says.

"Wait, how are you going to get more info? The police are conducting an investigation right now, so they need to inspect the body." Jazz says.

"Yes, right now. However after they finish, they will have to bring the body to the funeral director around town. If I come there as a nurse, I am free to look over the body with them...or at least I should be." Cynthia frowns. "It might not be that easy, but I'm sure I could try! You could tag along too! Maybe we could pretend to be relatives to the victim, hm?" Cynthia says, grinning.

"...You know, that's not too bad." She shrugs her shoulders. "It's not too risky, and it'd be a good chance to ask about any other killings that have occurred with similar M.O.s to our victim there." Jazz says.

"Um, what is an M.O.?" Cynthia asks.

"Modus Operandi. You know, it's latin for the killer's 'method of operation'." Jazz says.

She squeals. "Oh my! You even know the language of an agent. Wondrous!" Cynthia says.

Jazz looks away. "..I think I've met my match at being a spaz." She thinks.

…

After an uncomfortable carriage ride, Jazz and her animal friends return to the Phantomhive manor. Jazz takes Little Joe back to his doghouse.

She pats his head. "There. You're back at home." She frowns. "Still, I'm not sure this is the best place for you. You deserve a safe place with an even safer owner." Jazz says.

"Not to mention a bath. This mutt stinks!" Roger says.

Jazz sniffs Little Joe and glares at Roger. "He's not smelly. In fact, if anyone needs a bath, it's you."

He gasps. "Who you talkin' to, girl? I smell like fresh daisies 24/7."

Jazz shakes her head. "Yeah, sure."

She climbs up a tree and sneaks back into her room. Roger hops onto her bed and stretches out his legs.

"Ah, now this what I call a bed." Roger murmurs.

Jazz leans on the bathroom door. "Oh really? I thought Little Joe was your favorite bed."

He yawns. "I don't got a clue what you're talking about, Jazzy." He scratches his stomach. "Heya, don't you have some duties to go do?" He asks.

Jazz smiles. "I'm guessing by that question you're not tagging along?"

Roger pretends to snore.

She chuckles. "Of course."

…..

Some days pass, and Jazz is back her routine. There hasn't been many opportunities to leave the manor again unnoticed, but her seclusion to the estate had some perks.

"How could I have missed this? It's amazing!" Jazz thinks.

She slowly walks down the hall. Her face was deep in a book about mythology, and she'd occasionally bump into things. Jazz is lucky to be on her break, and was on her way back to the library when Sebastian suddenly appears.

"Ah, good morning Miss Jazmine. It's nice to see you bright and early." Sebastian says.

Jazz looks at his smile, suspicious. "Why is he always so happy looking? Is that the disguise?" She thinks.

He frowns. "It's rude to not say anything when someone is talking to you, my dear." Sebastian says.

Jazz looks down. "..I think for awhile sometimes and then the conversation moves on."

"That is the result of being silent, and people may take it as an insult. Unintentional as it may be, it is still improper." Sebastian says.

"Well, sorry." She says.

He smiles. "It is quite alright, young one. I'm sure you'll see why this is important as you get older."

Jazz tilts her head. "Hm. You know, if you ignore all the creepy stuff..and him being a demon, he doesn't seem all that bad. "But maybe that's part of the disguise too?" She thinks.

"I had something to discuss with you, but I've been unable to find you these past few days. Where have you been, little one?" He asks.

Jazz holds up her book. "Studying."

Sebastian looks at the book's cover and frowns. "Bulfinch's Mythology"?. That's not a book for a child, and certainly not text to study from." He says.

"But I like it. It talks about Titans and the Olympians. Stuff from the Romans period." She says.

He nods. "I see. If you are comfortable reading it, then I shall leave it be."

She puts away her book in her bag. "What was it you needed from me, Mr. Michaelis?"

"The night of the ball." He smirks. "You departed so early, and I was disappointed we hadn't shared a dance with one another. My Young Master told me that you're quite skilled."

Jazz looks away. "Oh great. He went around telling people. Better come up with something, or else my cover is blown." She thinks.

"Um, I just know the basics." Jazz says.

"Mm..I wonder how a peasant girl learns to dance?" Sebastian asks.

"Shh!..it's a mystery. But I might tell you, if you tell me something I want to hear." Jazz says.

He leans in close to Jazz. "So you've decided to come around after all~"

"Ew." She starts poking him in the chest. "I want to hear about what you saw..on my phone."

He lifts up Jazz's chin. "For that, I'd prefer something a little more meaningful in return, kitten."

She pushes him back. "In your dreams, octopus face."

He sighs. "If only I had the opportunity, my sweet."

Before they end the conversation, Ciel appears before them. He has his cane, and is dressed in his outdoor coat. He moves towards Jazz's side and narrows his eyes at Sebastian.

"Ahem. Exactly what are you two discussing about so early in the morning?" Ciel asks.

"Oh nothing important, my lord. I was only noting how Miss Jazmine vanished after the ball we held some time ago." Sebastian says.

Jazz groans. "This again?" She thinks.

"Yes,...you have been absent most of the time." Ciel says, blushing.

"It w-would have been nice to have had her there at least." He thinks.

"Young Master, are you alright?" Sebastian asks.

He glares at him. "Yes, yes. J-just go get the carriage ready."

Sebastian bows. "Yes, my lord." He hurries off.

"Carriage? You two are leaving?" She asks.

"Hm? Oh yes. I'm going to one of my townhouses in the country." He shows an envelope with a seal on it. "I have a lead the Queen would like me to follow up on…Though I honestly dread the traveling." He says.

"So the Queen's guard dog has to pick up a scent on something... I wonder what on?" She says.

Ciel smirks. "Would you care to come along? I could use some pleasant company, and you could bring your mutt too. I believe that would please Sebastian."

He extends his hand out to Jazmine, but she looks away.

"I'd honestly rather stay here. If those two are gone, I could sneak out and visit the funeral parlor with Cynthia..or better yet, sneak out to Houndsworth village." She thinks.

"Well?" Ciel asks.

"As much fun as that sounds, I probably should stay here. I'm sure You don't need any distractions." Jazz says.

"Nonsense. I don't plan to take long, and I wouldn't recommend staying here if you wish to maintain your sanity." Ciel says.

He takes her hands and kisses them.

Jazz's jaw drops. "Oh good gumdrops! Did he just kiss my…..ew!...I don't think weeks of washing could erase that contact." She thinks.

"Please, come with me." Ciel says.

She still looks disturbed.

"What's the matter?" Ciel asks.

Oh! Nothing, nothing..." She takes back her hands.

"Well, do I have an answer?" Ciel asks.

"I-I…..okay. I'm not sure what you're expecting. Conversation wise, I mean. " She looks down. "I'm not the easiest to be around." Jazz says.

"What on Earth are you going on about?" Ciel asks.

"..What is that reaction for? I'm just being honest." Jazz says.

"Constantly listing your weaknesses isn't useful, nor is it interesting. If you're trying to be humble, you do not to denounce yourself. You take a realistic perspective about yourself and your abilities." Ciel says.

She smirks. "What do you know about being humble?" Jazz asks.

"Tch! Shut up. At least I know enough not to let myself sound passive." Ciel says.

She smiles. "Nice advice. I like how your sharp words stab my feelings ever so harshly." Jazz says.

"You sound surprised." He grabs her hand. "Now quit stalling and come on already." Ciel says.

"Geez, so authoritative." She mumbles.

Jazz looks at her outfit. "I should bring my active wear just in case things get hairy." She thinks.

"Um, you don't mind if I get something really quick?" Jazz asks.

"Hurry up." He says.

Jazz hurries to gather her clothes. When she returns, Ciel leads her out the manor and into the carriage.

 **It's time for more adventure!**


	48. Guess Who Else Is On The Case?

In the carriage, Ciel and Jazz sit opposite from each other. Ciel has the sealed envelope from Queen Victoria, and looks it over.

Jazz starts staring at him, intensely.

"I wonder what the Queen wanted?" She thinks.

Ciel's nose wrinkles. "...Another one." He mumbles.

"Thinking about it, I haven't read enough on what Ciel exactly does. Through most of the book, he comes off as some type of mob boss. Just eliminating anyone that could ruin the idea that everything is fine in his country." She thinks.

Jazz looks at his ring. "Everything that suggest impurity is silenced by his hands...or I guess by his butler's hands. What irony."

She pulls out her mythology book and continues reading. "I wonder what could stop a tyrant like that.."

Ciel looks over at Jazz while she is distracted, but catches himself and looks back at the envelope.

"What the hell am I doing?!...I need to break this silence." He thinks.

"Hey."

She looks up from her book. "Yes?"

"What is that you have there?" He asks.

She holds up the book. "It's Bulfinch's Mythology."

"Ah, you got that from my library, then." He says.

Jazz looks down. "Oh yeah..sorry about that. I really got into it."

"Nonsense. I'd rather my books be read than left to gather dust in there." He says.

"See that's the thing I don't get with rich people who have these gigantic libraries in their houses. They always have a bunch of books they probably won't read in their lifetime. It's insane." She says.

Ciel scoffs. "You assume I need to have read every book in there to justify having them in my home."

"What? No. I don't mean…" She starts.

He grins. "I find having a wide collection of literature allows me to have entertainment for future occasions. It's also a way to show my guests I actually have intelligence."

Jazz puts down the book. "I get that. All I was trying to say was that the likelihood of someone reading a full library like that is low."

"Do you actually plan to read every book in there?" He asks.

She glares at him. "...Of course not. Besides, I only like historical fiction and horror novels."

"Hm. So you like writers like Mary Shelley and Poe?" He asks.

Jazz smiles. "Oh, yes! I love them~ Frankenstein, Tell Tale Heart, The Murders in Rue Morgue." She sighs, happily. "I swear, I live for stories like that. What do you like?"

"I enjoy the mystery genre mostly. I've been reading much of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels lately. His work, 'A Study in Scarlet' has intrigued me, and I'd like to read more."

"Oh yeah, the Aristocratic Oaths says he's like a Sherlock Holmes 2.0. Of course, he'd like Doyle. I like the characters, but the language of the book irks me." She thinks.

"I guess he's starting to get popular in London now?" She asks.

"He better. I'd like for him to continue his work." He says.

There is a short pause.

Ciel clears his throat. "If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?"

Jazz scratches her cheek. "Oh um,..from America..."

Ciel mentally groans. "Always so avoidant.." He thinks.

"I only asked because you look...different from.." He stares at her face. "-what I normally see." He mutters.

Jazz rolls her eyes. "..Are you trying to figure out what I am?"

"N-No! It's not like that would matter or anything..I was just curious." He says.

Jazz groans. "...This is 1889. It's not that common, is it?" She thinks.

"I don't make visits to America, but I do know of some cities. Where are you from?" He asks.

"If you must know, it's a small city called 'Holiday'. I live in West Holiday." She says.

"...Holiday? You expect me to believe a bloody town called 'Holiday' exists?" He asks, annoyed.

"I'm not joking, though." She says.

"What kind of name is 'Holiday'? It sounds ridiculous." He says.

"I read about this a year ago. It's funny. The original name was 'Holly'. You know, in reference to the American Holly plants 'ilex opaca' that would grow throughout much of the city." She says.

"Ah, that's..creative, I suppose. Holly is used for decoration during Christmas, so I assume the town was founded by Christians?" He asks.

"Well, that's the complicated thing. The town was divided in two: West and East. West Holiday was for people who followed religion to live their lives, and East Holiday was for those who relied on magic alone to improve their lives."

Ciel rolls his eye. "Are you daft?"

Jazz sighs. "..He accepts that demons exist, but not magic?" She thinks.

"These people had to be beyond primitive. Surely, they don't believe in this so called 'magic' anymore?" He asks.

"Well...no, they actually still believe. To this day, both sides recognize magic exists. East Holiday is living proof of that." She says.

Ciel smirks. "Do you believe, Jazmine?"

She crosses her arms. "Believe it or not, I wouldn't be here with you if I didn't."

Suddenly, Ciel starts laughing. Jazz and Roger are disturbed a bit, considering they have never seen him laugh before, or even smile genuinely! He finishes laughing and wipes his eye, for he had laughed so hard tears came.

He smiles at her. "Jazmine, thank you."

"For what?" Jazz asks.

"For making this long ride actually enjoyable." Ciel says.

After that odd conversation, they finally arrive at Ciel's townhouse!

Inside, this tiny townhouse was unusually bright, white, and cheery. Between its clean, white walls and comfortingly cozy decor, the place was a marvel to look at...to Jazz and Roger anyway.

"Hmm, I wonder what secrets he has here? There's so much to explore." She thinks.

Jazz moves ahead of Ciel and Sebastian to observe more of the townhouse.

"Oy, where do you think you're going?" He looks at Sebastian. "Hmph! She's never even been here and already she's snooping the place." Ciel says.

Sebastian smirks. "You know Young Master, I'm mildly surprised you allowed Miss Jazmine to come along. Surely, she gave you a hard time in the carriage?".

"At least it was more interesting than a near forty five minute long ride alone." Ciel groans. "I don't see much sense to travel all the way out here in London with these people incessantly loitering around like it's no one's business."

Sebastian chuckles. "As unnecessary as it may seem, it is customary for nobles to travel from Mass to town every season."

"Every season eh?" Ciel says.

"Getting out of the manor every now and again might be good for you too. Excluding Miss Jazmine, I think a break from those four will provide us with some peace and quiet." Sebastian says.

"Some peace and quiet, hm?" He looks at Jazz. "With her and her reclusive habits I guess that should be a possibility." Ciel says.

Ciel and Sebastian reach the upstairs level while Jazz and Roger were already up looking around at the paintings, and sculptures. Sebastian opens the door and they see that they are not alone. Inside the room, Madame Red, her servant Grell, and Lau are searching all over the place- and causing a wreck I might add. Ignoring the fact that they shouldn't have been in there, the state they had turned the room in was incredibly impertinent!

Ciel and Sebastian's eye twitches.

"Bloody bastards!" Ciel thinks.

He storms in, ready to blow a gasket.

"Madame Red! Lau! What on earth are you two doing here?!" Ciel yells.

Madame Red turns around. "Oh hi there Ciel! It's about time you got here."

"...I'm here quite early actually." Ciel says, annoyed.

"Ah, I was beginning to think the Earl would never show." Lau says.

He sniffs the air. "Ooh! Is that the fragrance of that little vixen?" Lau asks.

Ciel's eye twitches again. "Disgusting." He thinks.

Madame Red glares at Lau. "Anywho, if you're here that means the Queen's guard dog has a new duty to handle~"

…

After getting properly settled, The three sit down to discuss the details of the letter Ciel received from the Queen. Grell stands by Madame Red's side. And Sebastian stands by Ciel's side. While they all were discussing things, Jazz was standing over at a table away from everyone else. She and Roger were looking at a painting depicting "The Binding of Isaac".

"He's struck again. Another prostitute has been gruesomely murdered in Whitechapel, and these killings are far from normal. The level of violence going on is unprecedented." Ciel says before taking a sip of tea.

Jazz continues facing the painting, but starts listening in to the conversation more closely.

"Mm, so are they talking about..-

Roger tugs at her hair. "Hey, Ol' One Eye's-

She signals for Roger to hush so she can hear, and points to her book bag. Roger unzips it, hands her the notepad, and a pencil.

"His latest victim was a woman named Mary Anne Nichols. It appears that a special type of blade was used on her, and her body was torn up beyond recognition." Sebastian says.

"The murderer's distinctive style of killing has earned him the nickname "Jack the Ripper"." Ciel says.

"...Mm, a frightening name." Lau says.

"That's why I'm here earlier than expected. I needed to travel into the town to investigate the matter myself." Ciel says.

Jazz sits down on a chair nearby and takes out her phone.

"Let's see if the picture I took is worth a second look." She thinks.

She pulls up the picture she took last night of the victim, and zooms in on the cuts. Then she pulls out a small notepad.

"Sorry if this too grody for you fuzzball, but I have to look again." Jazz whispers.

Roger shudders. "Whatever."

He looks at Ciel. "I guess Ol' One Eye's on the case too. But I think we might know more than him. Plus, that ditzy chick Cecilia probably has some extra dirt for us now."

"It's Cynthia. And besides, I don't expect it to be a cakewalk for either of us to figure out. They still can't identify the weapon Ms. Nichols was killed with, or how a woman killed out in public wouldn't be heard or seen by anyone around." Jazz whispers.

"Well we saw it didn't we?" He frowns. "I still have the nightmares."

"Yeah after the fact. It was fresh, and we didn't even hear anything." She sighs. "But that's not even the biggest thing that bugs me."

"What then? What's up?" Roger whispers.

"When we saw the body that day, and I started feeling around...it felt like something was missing." Jazz whispers.

Suddenly, Jazz and Roger feel a warm breath on their heads. Jazz looks up to see Sebastian smirking at her. Everyone else in the room has already left.

"Excuse Miss Jazmine, but I believe it is time for us to depart.." He grabs her phone. "And we shouldn't be distracted when the Master has a case." Sebastian says.

She reaches for the phone. "Hey, no- just let me..-"

Jazz jumps up to get the phone, but Sebastian withholds it from her. Roger jumps onto Sebastian's face to scratch him, but he simply flicks the raccoon off, and he falls down.

"My, my! First you seemed so eager for me to show you what I did on this device, and now you're suddenly against it. How fickle of you, kitten." Sebastian says.

"Could you please stop? I really need that right now." Jazz says.

"Oh, did you say 'please'?" He smiles. "How polite. Though, I prefer your bold demeanor more." Sebastian says.

"Fine, but you asked for it." Jazz says.

Jazz starts judo kicking Sebastian in the chest, but he dodges most of her kicks.

"Darn this demon! He has to mess up at some point." She thinks.

She jumps high into the air and tries thwacking her boots at his face. He chuckles at her ineffective attacks, and reaches for her leg while she's mid air.

She gasps. "Oh no you don't!" She thinks.

To evade his grasp, she backflips off his head, she lands herself on top of statue of Juno.

He smiles. "How fitting. Also, might I say that those clothes hug your shape quite beautifully." Sebastian says.

Jazz grimaces. "...Ew. Just no. Ew. Stop."

"I'm only being honest with you, my sweet." Sebastian says.

She shudders. "I am NOT your 'sweet'.

She jumps down. "And I'm not your love or anything else."

"As much as I enjoy playing with you kitten, I must hurry out to be at the Young Master's side. As should you. But I am curious about what has you attached to this thing." Sebastian says.

He looks at her phone's screen.

"No!" She mentally screams.

Jazz reaches out her hands, but it already too late.

Sebastian glares at her. "Well, well. I believe you have a lot to answer for, kitten."


	49. Confronting Our Purpose

" _Well, well. I believe you have a lot to answer for, kitten." Sebastian says._

"Oh shoot! I've blown it.." She thinks.

Roger dusts himself off and climbs back onto Jazz's shoulder.

"This sucks bad. What are we gonna do now?" He whispers.

"..I don't know. I messed up. The best thing I can think of is to..confess." She whispers.

Roger grabs at his ears. "Jazzy, have you lost it?!" He whispers.

She walks up to Sebastian and grabs at his gloved hand.

"NO!" Roger whispers.

But Jazz ignores him.

Sebastian flinches. "Eh? What is she doing now?" He thinks.

She looks up at his dark red eyes, intensely.

"...You're right. I do. I really really do, and I should have said something earlier." Jazz says, backing away.

"Miss Jazmine?" He asks.

"All this time I've been thinking that you're the enemy and that we can't work together, but I'm starting to think that maybe that's wrong. I mean I'm basically here to help you, Mr. Bardroy, Mr. Finny, Ms. Mey-Rin, and Mr. Phantomhive of course." Jazz says.

Sebastian smirks. "...So you-

"So I'm going to start being honest with you because..we're all supposed to be a team." She holds out her hand. "Is that alright?"

He looks at her phone, again. "...Kitten, I-

"What? Why are you interrupting?" She asks.

The sound of a cat meowing suddenly echoes from Jazz's phone, and interrupts her confession. She walks over quickly to the phone and taps the screen.

She gasps. "Oh no, I forgot to feed Mortimer!"

"See? You have a lot to answer for." He taps the phone screen.

"Honestly, there is no excuse for ignoring this beautiful creature." Sebastian says.

She looks away. "I know, I know, but I was really busy yesterday dealing with….-Wait, wait. Did you say, 'beautiful creature'?!"

Sebastian smiles. "Why yes. Felines are just the grandest of mammals I've come to known. I have a hard time figuring them out, but I suppose that's part of why I love them so. Such spontaneous ones they are!"

Jazz giggles. "I know, right? Cats are so mysterious and cute. Those little soft, plushy, pink paws and those sensitive itty bitty ears~"

"Have you ever owned any?" Sebastian asks.

"No." She pouts.

Sebastian shakes his head. "Pity."

"I bet you're like some magnet for them, though." She says.

"Hm? What makes you say that?" He asks.

Jazz shrugs her shoulders. "...This might sound weird. but your face looks like a cat to me, so.."

And thus a long discussion about felines began! The two walk out the townhouse, completely absorbed in this odd conversation. It was interesting to think that once the subject of cats was brought up between the two, it was enough to bring them together.

Jazz sits at the front of the carriage with Sebastian while he mans the reins.

"-My favorite type of big kitties are leopards. They're like a hybrid of a lion and a panther, which are like the most deadly ones. Hehe~" She says.

Sebastian smiles. "I personally love all cats, but I do agree mixed breeds are amazing as well."

"What about zombie cats?" She asks.

He frowns. "What is a 'zombie'?"

"It's someone that used to be dead, but they're brought back to life only..their bodies are still decayed and stuff. Y'know, the living dead? " She says.

Sebastian grins. "You believe that horse dribble?"

"Yes, I am a supernatural enthusiast. So what you call horse dribble I call fact."

She starts poking Sebastian's stomach. "What do you think of that Mr. I Can Do Everything Butler?"

Sebastian puts his arms around Jazz and leans in close to her ear.

"Ugh! What the?" She thinks.

She tries to push him away. "What are you doing?"

"Miss Jazmine, haven't you noticed something?" Sebastian says.

She shakes her head. "I've noticed you've become a huge hug fairy out of nowhere."

He chuckles. "No, no. You see...we're getting along." Sebastian says.

There's a small pause.

"...Yeah….it's.." Jazz says.

"It is nice isn't it?" Sebastian asks.

Jazz looks away. "More like different. I never thought that you could be so...normal." Jazz says.

He pulls away from Jazz. "Normal?"

"...Sebastian, I have something to tell you. Something I should have said before." Jazz says.

He smirks. "Ah, a confession of attachment, I presume?"

"Ewww. No. I mean like something you might not believe unless...I show you." Jazz says.

Jazz reaches into her bag for 'Aristocratic Oaths: Broken', but has a hard time pulling the book out. Soon, Sebastian stops the carriage. They had reached a crowded area in town that was the site of the deceased body of Mary Nichols. Sebastian gets up from his seat and looks at Jazz.

"Sorry, kitten, but I have to assist Young Master further on this case. Perhaps afterwards we can talk, but for now I must take my leave." Sebastian says.

Before Jazz can reply he is gone. He is already at the carriage door, assisting Ciel out of the vehicle. The two then start walking into the crowd.

She sighs and lets go of the book. "Oh, well. So much for being honest." She thinks.

"Ouch!" Roger says.

"Oopsies. Sorry, buddy." Jazz says.

Roger climbs out of the bag and jumps onto her shoulder.

He waves his arms around. "Jazzy, are you nuts?! What do you think you're doing?"

"I was trying to show him the book. Was that you doing that earlier?" She asks, suspicious.

"You're darn tootin' it was me! You were about to blow our cover...AGAIN." He says.

"Roger, I think we need to tell him. By telling him it'll somehow prevent Ciel from turning into a demon and save the present." She says.

"And what if it doesn't, Jazzy? What if he doesn't believe us, and decides to kill us 'cuz we know all his and One Eye's secrets? Or worse, we tell him, and he still can't stop it from happening!" He says.

"I'm tired of us being against each other. Ms. Mey-Rin said that it's important to talk to others. Being alone on this might not work so well. So maybe it's worth the risk." She says.

"You don't think you and me are enough?" He asks.

"Well..yeah. We haven't gotten word back from Mr. Spears or any reaper, Cynthia might not come through with her help, and I'm a kid, which means I can't go out on my own without anyone noticing." She says.

She looks down. "If we fail here, me along with a bunch of other innocent people in the present are going to die…." She holds Roger. "What should we do at this point?…."

He leans on her head and wraps his tail around the nape of her neck.

"I think you need to remember what those reapers said to you. You're the only one left who is the key to setting things right. When that time comes, it'll practically be instinct…..okay they didn't say all that, but..it's what I figure will happen." Roger says.

"...The reapers." Jazz looks behind her. "Grell!...He might know something about these Jack the Ripper murders. It's even a good chance that's why he's undercover." She says.

Jazz gets up from her seat.

"Wait, what are you doing?" He asks.

"He's a reaper. They record the deaths of people all the time, so he must know something. Maybe who's doing it, but it's just a hunch I have right now." She says.

"Yeah, you still didn't answer my question, Jazzy." He says.

Jazz enters the carriage, and sees Lau sitting across from Madame Red, and Grell. They each are surprised to see her.

She waves to them. "Uh, hi there."

"Oh, hello there~ Have you changed your mind about working as the Earl's maid?" Lau asks.

Jazz sits next to Lau. Now don't misunderstand. Under any normal circumstances she would avoid being around him like the plague, but she needed to focus her attention on Grell. With her mind refocused, Jazz was ready to uncover the truth about Jack the Ripper, and Grell's knowledge...


	50. I Aim to Misbehave

"Goodness Lau, how many times are you going to pounce on this innocent young girl?!" Madame Red shouts.

"Mmm~ 'Pounce'…..it's such a suggestive action, isn't it?" Lau mutters.

Madame Red scoffs. "Perverted lech."

Jazz looks at Lau. "He's always so carefree when he speaks. Like he has no filter. I wonder..." She thinks.

She clears her throat. "The word 'to pounce' is usually associated with animals and it means to swoop in on prey to catch them. I think a more accurate verb would be 'harass'." Jazz says.

Madame Red frowns. "Deary, what he is doing is the verbal equivalent to such animalistic actions. _"_

"Ah, how harsh. I was only playing with this little one." Lau says.

"How is implying sexual interest towards a child 'playing', Lau?!" Madame Red shouts.

Lau pets Jazz on the head. "Well she doesn't seem to mind, do you mei nu?

She takes his hand off her head. "...Take your offer somewhere else Mr. Lau." Jazz says.

Grell gasps. "How rude." He thinks.

Madame Red cheers and grabs Jazz. She presses her cheek against Jazz's.

"Ha, ha! See? Young Jazmine is a respectable lady and thus can't be easily swayed by your advances!" Madame Red says.

Jazz groans. "..I don't think he was really flirting. It was a joke." She thinks.

"...What are we talking about again?" Lau asks, completely oblivious.

Everyone is annoyed.

"Wha-...WHAT?!" Madame Red shouts.

"..You really are a silly man, Mr. Lau." Jazz says.

"Glad to see your sense of humor is still around." Lau says.

"EH?! Is this some kind of joke?!" Madame Red shouts.

Grell taps Madame Red on the shoulder. "Um, I believe so Madame..-" He says quietly.

Madame Red drops Jazz onto the floor of the carriage, and hits Grell on the head with her purse.

"It was a rhetorical question, you nit!"

She looks down at Jazz. "And you! You actually made me think you were maturing as woman, but instead you were scheming with a lecherous bloke to make a fool out of me!" She yells.

"Again, he was joking." She thinks.

"I-I thought we had something special, like I was..a surrogate mother to you." She turns away from her. "Away! Away with you!" Madame Red cries.

"...What..in the name of Zeus..is going on?!" Jazz thinks.

Jazz is extremely confused. She hurries outside of the carriage and dusts herself off.

"Well that didn't go so well." Jazz says.

"Ya' think?! Oh and by the way, what the heck were you trying to do in there anyway?" Roger says.

"Sorry, I got a little off track. But my plan is plain and simple. If we expose Grell, he'll tell us what he knows about the Jack the Ripper murders but more importantly, he can lead us to William which basically translates to: Getting the help of the reapers to stop Ciel from becoming a demon." She says.

"Oh...that's not a bad idea.- Not a bad idea at all, Jazzy." He says.

A few seconds later, Ciel and Sebastian walk back towards the carriage. Jazz and Roger notice that Ciel looks slightly annoyed.

"Looks like someone didn't get to see a body." Roger whispers.

"Just because you're royalty doesn't mean everyone has to do what you say. And knowing Detective Abberline, it definitely counts in his book too. Plus, the body has to have been moved by now." She whispers.

"Miss Jazmine, why are standing out here?" Sebastian asks.

She looks down. "...I was told to get out."

"What?! Who did that?" Ciel asks.

"Your auntie. I made her mad." Jazz says.

Ciel sighs. "Well it doesn't take much to rile up Madame Red, however I will not allow her to punish my servants without my permission."

Two seconds later, Grell is tossed out of the carriage and lands face first onto the street pavement. Everyone is alarmed.

"Oy, what on Earth happened to you?" Ciel asks.

"..I believe Madame Red is experiencing a bloody fit of sorts..as am I at the moment." Grell groans.

"Well don't stay down there for too long. We wouldn't want another body decaying in the streets of London today." Sebastian says.

Grell lifts his head. "Yes, yes, you are right sir!"

Ciel grabs Jazz's hand and walks her back toward the carriage, but she looks over at Grell and pulls away from him.

"What is it?" Ciel asks.

"Uh, actually I think I wanna stay out here..in front..with Grell. Is that alright?" Jazz asks.

"You don't want to sit inside?" Ciel asks.

Jazz rubs the back of her neck. "No, no. It's not..-..I just really think I should be with Grell-

"If it's about Madame Red, you don't have to worry. I won't let her dismiss you again." Ciel says.

Sebastian clears his throat. "Young Master I believe if you wish to wrap up this case in a timely manner, you will consider letting Miss Jazmine to do what she'd prefer." He glares at Grell. "Though I don't see what has suddenly attracted you to Mr. Sutcliff all of a sudden, Miss Jazmine."

"..Uh..I like guys with glasses?" Jazz says.

Ciel and Sebastian glare at Grell.

Sebastian holds open the door for Ciel.

Ciel sighs. "If this is what you want."

He then enters the carriage, and Sebastian calls to Grell.

"Grell, take us to the Undertaker's funeral parlor. It is located directly up from Baker st. Take a left turn once you reach Bickenhall. Is that understood?" Sebastian asks.

He gasps. "You're giving me the task?"

Grell springs up from the pavement. "Yippee!"

Immediately, He leaps into the front of the carriage and grabs at the horse's reins. Sebastian enters the carriage. Jazz hurries into the front seat and Grell starts the horses.

Jazz looks at Grell. "Hm, you seem more motivated than..ever." She crosses her arms. "And isn't it a coincidence that Mr. Michaelis is the trigger."

"Hmph! Unlike you, I am going after the man of my dreams, and I will stop at nothing to win my Sebas-chan's affections." He shakes his head. "You had a perfect opportunity to go along with the Earl but you thwarted it, for what? To have a dashing chat with _moi_?" He asks.

"'Sebas-chan'?" She asks.

"I know it's cute, isn't it? I thought it up in my head the moment I heard him utter the words 'Get to work, Grell'." He giggles.

She looks at Grell's hair. "...You're like a different person away from Madame Red. Why is that?"

"You've seen the way that woman is! If I talked like this she'd rip my head off and use it as a pin cushion! I musn't be this exuberant in her presence, for a perfect servant would never be such a way." He says.

"You're afraid of her? She's pretty unhinged, but she looks like she could barely slice her way into a patient let alone actually 'harm' someone." She says.

He sighs. "Your blunt language never takes a break does it? How you responded to Master Lau was quite unbecoming for a servant, and a lady even if he was being playful." He says.

"I believe people should just say how they feel. Be who they really are." Jazz says.

"So who you really are is a rude, cheeky brat?" He asks.

She nods. "I'm glad you caught on."

He glares at her. "...Such a daring belief, Young Jazmine. Was that directed at me?"

"You are catching on very well." She says.

Grell rolls his eyes. "And where is this going, Young Jazmine? "

"Tell me what you know about Jack the Ripper, **Mr. Reaper**." Jazz says.

…...


	51. We Have A Reaper At Last

"...Mr..R-r-reaper?" Grell asks, hesitantly.

Jazz nods.

"I got him now!" She thinks.

He nearly falls out of his seat at the question.

"Well….whatever do you mean, Young Jazmine?" He chuckles.

"Honestly, calling me a reaper! What a silly thing for a child to say."

" ...' _an ill-tempered, fiery, red-headed, incompetent grim reaper with fangs even a ferocious tiger would cower at.'_ " Jazz reads.

Grell is outraged and stares daggers at her.

He growls. "Y-y-you lousy little bratty pauper! How could you say that to me? I'm a darn bloody good angel of death."

"I thought we were companions, and you just..-just..AH!" Grell shouts.

"Those aren't my words. Personally, I don't know you that well. You seem..." Jazz says.

"Amazing? Supportive? Charming?" Grell asks.

Jazz shakes her head. "Nope. You're a total stranger, and I'm a stranger to you. Why would I think any of those things?"

Grell glares at her. "...You're never going to get a man if you keep being cold like that."

Jazz rolls her eyes. "Yes, yes. I'm going to die alone. But let's get back to focusing on you, Mr. Reaper."

"Will you quit that?"

"Only when you quit playing around. There's no use in hiding it now." Jazz says.

Grell sighs. "If this will keep your mouth shut, then fine. Prepare to be amazed."

Instead of panicking, Grell decides to reveal her true form. Her eyes change to green and yellow, and her shark teeth. Jazz and Roger are surprised.

"Ask and you shall receive." Grell pats at his head. "Though I'm afraid I can't give away my hair, for I can't easily change that back."

"..Y-you're that man from before! You were in my room when…" She begins.

Grell frowns. "Eh? Excuse me, I'm a lady! And if you're going to accuse me of something else at least make it make sense."

Jazz facepalms. "I can't believe I didn't piece this together earlier."

She pulls out the book and starts flipping pages. "Your description says it all…"

"Huh?" Grell leans over Jazz.

"I'm in a book?"

Grell squeals. "How exciting! Tell me, what's it about? But only mention the parts about me~"

"Either way, my question still stands. What do you know about these Jack the Ripper killings, Mr. Sutcliff….or Ms. Sutcliff? And don't lie- You either know something or not." Jazz says.

"Pfft! How cute. You really think you have the upper hand here?" Grell asks, grinning.

"This guy thinks he's invincible, and in ways he's right, but that doesn't mean he won't slip up. I've already caught him once, haven't I?" Jazz thinks.

Grell pinches her cheeks. "Listen up squirt, I'm going to throw you a bone."

She pushes Grell back. "Good. He's confident that what he tells me won't matter. Whatever hints he has must be worth something, though." She thinks.

"You could say, I have a few things in common with the killer...but it's not my hand involved." Grell says.

"Is that why you're undercover? Are you close to the killer?" She asks.

"Hey, I don't give information for free. I believe in an 'eye for an eye'. So riddle me this, Young Jazmine. How did you know I was a reaper?" Grell asks.

"..We've actually met before...well in the future." She says.

"...Are you joking around again?" Grell asks, annoyed.

She taps at the book. "Check the the publishing date if you don't believe me...oh and the page that has your entire biography on it too."

Grell narrows his eyes at Jazz. "Very well, but this better not be another joke. Here, take the reins for a bit."

Grell passes the reins to Jazz. She hands the book to Grell, he flips pages until she finds the two pages dedicated to him and William. His jaw drops when he reads through his page.

"...I-I.I can't believe this!..." Grell slams the book. "The monster that wrote this horrid book called me ' _frightening in appearance'_! That is most untrue! I am of the highest beauties of the divines! A lady!"

Jazz groans. "Is that all you took from that?" She hands him back the reins. "Now are you going to tell me who the killer is?"

Grell smirks. "Young Jazmine, if I honestly knew, why would I tell you? From what I remember, you said we are strangers. We don't know each other at all."

"Exactly. We have no history with each other, but what I'm asking should have nothing to do with that." Jazz says.

"Well it does. Anyway, that novel you have seems to hold potential for detailed answers, but that's assuming this still isn't some trick of yours." Grell says.

"It's not a trick and I need you to believe me. If I don't have you or Mr. Spears on my side there won't be a future for the Reaper's Dispatch or humanity." Jazz says.

"What? Just who are you and what are you going on about?" Grell asks.

"My name is Jazz and I was sent to the past in order to stop Ciel Phantomhive from becoming a demon."

"Demon? That little brat? What does that have to do with-

"In the future, Ciel Phantomhive and Sebastian Michaelis are killing people all over the place! Those not on the Reaper's lists for death." She points to herself. "And they were after me too..Your leader, the Director, told me that if I die, then the Reapers could lose control of the balance of humanity."

"...My, my.." Grell sighs, heavily. "That's quite a lot to take in...I-I think I need a moment to process it all."

As Grell says this, he brings the carriage to a halt. He also fixes her appearance back to her male disguise. They have reached a small light brown building with a giant sign reading "Undertaker". The sign has a human skull on top of it, and a coffin placed on the outside of the building!

Quite a disturbing image to see, but even more disturbing to be in. Immediately, everyone exits the carriage and stands outside of the funeral parlor building. Everyone looks uneasy.

"...Uh, where are we?" Lau asks.

"You don't know? Then what was all that about earlier?!" Madam Red exclaims.

Grell moves over to Madame Red's side.

Jazz walks over to the coffin outside the building.

"Ooh! I like this color. It'd be great for Halloween next year, wouldn't it? She asks.

"Hm, I guess...It's kinda dusty, though." Roger says.

"What do you mean? It's well clean and there isn't even a crack to be seen." Jazz says.

"..In spirit. It's dusty in spirit, Jazzy! Pay attention." Roger says.

She tries taking a peek inside, but Madam Red stops her and grabs her by the arm.

"Ah! Get off me, old lady!" Jazz thinks.

"Now, now. We wouldn't want to go breaking this proprietor's property would we?" Madame Red says.

"Proprietor's property? Bajeebs, try saying that three times." She thinks.

Madam Red clears her throat. "I'm waiting for an answer, little lady."

She looks around. "Uh….no?" Jazz asks.

Madam Red smiles and pats Jazz on the head. "Good girl. Now come along now."

"...Talk about a switch in personality! This lady's insane. " Jazz thinks.

Madame Red pulls Jazz away from the coffin and leads her back with the rest of the group. Before they enter however, another carriage pulls up to the building.

Ciel and the rest already start entering the funeral parlor, but Madame Red, Grell, and Jazz catch sight of the other carriage. In an instant, the person coming out of the carriage is a young lady dressed in a nurse's outfit.

Jazz facepalms. "Oh gumballs." She mutters.

"Jazz, is that you?" Cynthia asks.

Madame Red and Grell look at Jazz.

"Is that...Miss Patterson?" Madam Red asks.

"Wait, she knows Cynthia?" Jazz thinks.


	52. Undertaking A Comedy

Cynthia hurries over to Jazz and grabs her. She playfully swings the girl around. Roger clings onto Jazz's dress to keep from falling off.

"Ah!" Jazz and Roger yell.

"Oh how wondrous! What luck is it I've found you here?" Cynthia says.

Jazz grunts. "Do…you… mind..putting…me..down?"

"Why yes, of course! " Cynthia says.

Jazz fixes her hair, seeing that this awkward shake frenzy had messed up her hair.

Madame Red gives Cynthia the side eye.

"What is that girl doing here of all places?" She whispers.

Grell shrugs his shoulders. "Perhaps there was problem at work?" he whispers.

Before the two can ask any questions, Jazz and Cynthia head inside the funeral parlor.

Madam Red gasps. "What?! Hey!"

Madame Red run inside and Grell hurries after her. Inside the parlor, it is dark and decorated with some pretty unsettling decor: coffins, cobwebs, a model of a human's insides, and a few candles that barely lit up the room.

"Wow, this is so pretty." Jazz whispers.

"Angel, we gotta talk about this whole being "creepy" thing." Roger whispers.

"Hehehe, welcome~" A mysterious voice begins.

… _**tap, tap!**_

"I figured I'd be seeing you again before long~"

… _**tatter, tatter!**_

"It's so lovely to see you Earl~"

… _**creakkkkk!**_

Suddenly, a man with long silver hair running down his back creeps out of a coffin nearby.

"Have you finally come to be fitted for one of me coffins?" The man asks with a creepy smile.

Everyone screams in terror.

"No I'm not here for that, Undertaker. I'm here to-

The Undertaker suddenly disappears and reappears next to Ciel. He puts one of his long nailed, dangly fingers to Ciel's lips.

"Ah, no need to say. I know exactly why you're here~" He giggles. "One of my recent customers was certainly unusual. But I did my best to make her beautiful again!" The Undertaker says.

Cynthia shudders. "He's certainly more frightening than I imagined." Cynthia whispers.

Jazz grins. "Ooh, I like frightening~"

She notices a strange object on one of the tables of the Undertaker's.

"Hm, I wonder what that is." Jazz thinks.

Her and Cynthia walk over to the table.

Jazz gasps. "Whoa, it's a heart." She whispers.

Deeply interested, she picks up the heart. Roger sticks out his tongue in disgust and turns away, gagging.

"Eh? Ugh, how strange! It's a human's heart." Cynthia whispers.

"-Well I'd like some details on your 'customers'." Ciel says.

"Ah, ah, ah! You know the deal m'lord. I gave you a discount last time, but this time I expect the proper payment." The Undertaker says.

"Oh, I see. So this funeral parlor business is a cover. How much is it for information?" Lau asks.

In the blink of an eye, the Undertaker slides in front of Lau, very close up and personal. Lau leans back trying to escape his invasion of his personal space.

"I have no need for the Queen's coins! No..no." He leans closer. "What I want from you is….TRUE LAUGHTER!" The Undertaker shouts.

Jazz, is startled by the shouting and when she turns around, she accidently loses her grip on the heart. The organ lands in Cynthia's nurse hat and the blood from it begins leaking onto her face.

Cynthia trembles. "...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screams.

Everyone turns their attention to the two young ladies. Cynthia starts running around in circles and flailing her arms around.

"Ah! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" She yells.

Jazz runs after Cynthia. "Just hold still and I'll-

While Jazz is running, she trips over a hip bone and lands inside a coffin…..but this coffin's not empty. It was the coffin holding Mary Ann Nichols's corpse! Her face is planted on top of the body and when she lifts her head, half of Mary Nichols's makeup smears onto her face.

Roger looks at her. "AHHHH! Clowns!"

He flees from Jazz's shoulder, but Cynthia runs into him. He sinks his claws into her face, blinding her completely. She ends up running into Grell, and her hat lands on the chest of Madame Red's.

"Bloody hell!" She screams.

…

"hehehehehehehehehehehehehe…...Hahahahahahahahahaha….HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!"

The Undertaker goes into a fit of laughter.

Ciel looks around at everyone.

"Good god. How the hell did these two cause this scene?" He sees Jazz's face. "Oh lord.." Ciel snickers.

Sebastian and Lau on the other hand are amazed at how much chaos just went on...and the bigger surprise that the Undertaker laughed at it.

"H-how..what happened?" Lau asks.

"P-please- hehe!..No more! I don't think I could take it- Ha,Ha!" The Undertaker wipes a tear from his eye.

"Oh great gods that was priceless." He turns to Ciel. " M'lord, did you plan this beautiful affair?" Undertaker asks.

Ciel smirks. "Hmph! As the Queen's guard dog, it is my duty to use any means to get necessary information." He gestures to Cynthia and Jazz. "And using my pawns is without question. Now, about that information."

The Undertaker looks at Cynthia, and grins.

"No, no. I need a different one~" He mutters.

Undertaker stares at Jazz, and tilts his head.

"Mm~ This one looks about right." He says.

Right now, Jazz is looking under the dress of Mary Nichols's body. She reaches her hand inside the "the lower regions" , and digs around. The Undertaker moves by Jazz's side, and leans over her.

"What? She's missing her 'baby maker' part. That's such a weird thing to take out…" She strokes her chin. "I mean why not a kidney, or her lungs? At least those can be useful if you want a transplant." Jazz says, softly.

"Who's to say it's for that purpose, love?" The Undertaker asks.

"Mm, well there is that..- " Jazz sees the Undertaker and flinches.

"Ah!" She pokes at his cheek. "Don't do that~" Jazz says.

Madam Red gasps. "Wait, the bodies are missing what?"

The Undertaker puts his arm around Jazz, and pinches her cheek.

She tugs at his hair. "Hey, quit that. I'm not some baby." Jazz thinks.

"All my customers were such blossomed beauties unlike this one here. It is unfortunate they were severely damaged at their necks with a razor sharp tool." He runs his fingernail along Jazz's neck. "-and stripped of their womanhood." The Undertaker says.

The Undertaker gets ready to motion towards Jazz's "womanhood", but Ciel and Sebastian both immediately grab at her arms and pull her away from the Undertaker. When the two males notice they both have Jazz in their arms, Ciel is shocked.

She glares at both of them. "Um..can you let go?" She asks.

Ignored.

He glares at Sebastian. "...Ahem." Ciel says.

Sebastian doesn't say anything but returns a glare at Ciel.

"...Touching her." Sebastian thinks.

Ciel's grip on Jazz's arm gets looser and Sebastian takes advantage of the moment. He pulls Jazz over to his side.

"Ah!

She looks at him.

"What's wrong with him? Isn't he supposed to-"

Sebastian's grip tightens and she winces.

"Owy!" Jazz mumbles.

She looks into his eyes and gasps.

"H-he's claiming me." Jazz thinks.

"Se-Sebastian.." Ciel grumbles.

"M'lord, are you paying attention?" The Undertaker asks.

Ciel blushes. "Uh- yes, why yes!"

He clears his throat. "So you're saying the victims have their uteruses removed from their bodies." Ciel says.

Lau is standing by the body of Mary Nichols. "Out of curiosity, I checked. I can safely say that it has been taken."

Madam Red grimaces. "..Well, that's just...animalistic."

"Quite indeed. This type of killing is typical of a sociopathic mind, and the killer won't stop until they get caught or wind up deceased. So m'lord, do you believe you have what it takes to stop this monster?"

"Nonsense. I am bound by my family to fulfill the Queen's wishes, and that means catching and stopping Jack the Ripper."

…..


	53. We've Gotten Further, Keep It Going

Isn't it interesting how in human society, specifically regarding the sexual nature of heterosexual relationships, that males like to dominate?...

Perhaps that's such an obvious thing to notice, but is it obvious to understand why? Well don't worry, I'm not going to give you some textbook science definition Jazz, Shawna, or Ron would come up with. No, I'm more ignorant of things than you could possibly imagine, and so I wish to give to you my (uninformed) interpretation of why male dominance over women occur.

 _ **For the most part, human society has built up its history as a patriarchal type world to live in for most cultures.**_

 _ **In older times, the well being of women was only a priority after the men were satisfied. Physically, females are noticeably weaker than men, and sometimes are prone to more emotional instability than men. And so with these things in mind, it is reasonable to make the assumption that males dominate women because...it's easy**_ ….Sorry if I offend my female readers out there (I know you are many!), but I want to make this (uninformed) point to tie into the possible motives of a certain male. A power driven, demonic abomination called " **Sebastian Michaelis"**.

"He's been trying to claim me this entire time." Jazz stomps her foot. "I can't believe I didn't see the signs."

"What the halibut does 'claim' mean here because I'm lost." Roger says.

Right now, Jazz is standing outside the Undertaker's funeral parlor. Roger is standing on top of the prop coffin outside. He looks at Ciel and his "gang" who are standing around the carriage.

"And what is the deal with One Eye over there?" Roger asks.

"What? Nevermind him. He's the least of our problems right now." Jazz says.

Roger scratches his ear. "Alright, alright. I'm just asking. What were you saying earlier?"

Jazz points to Sebastian. "About claiming..I've read that in demonic culture, it isn't out of the norm for them to interact with humans in let's say, a non-violent way."

She gestures to Ciel. "Obviously, Mr. Phantomhive is an example of this since he made a contract with a demon to fulfill his wishes. In return, the creature eats his soul. Sometimes though, demons seek out humans to satisfy their other 'needs'." Jazz says.

"...So, uh...what are you trying to tell me, Jazzy?" Roger asks.

She sighs. "To put it bluntly, demons eventually want a mate..or I guess they prefer to call them 'pets'?" Jazz says.

"-And by 'mate', you mean...lovey-dovey, kissy-huggy?" Roger asks.

"...Ugh!" Jazz groans. "Could we please move on from that?"

"So Armpit head wants to ***beep*** you?" Roger asks.

She gasps. "...Roger, stop."

"What?" Roger asks.

" **Please avoid using any more obscene profanity as it makes this story more uncomfortable for me to narrate." The Narrator says.**

Roger looks up at the sky, glaring. "What a load of bull-

"Do not finish that." Jazz says.

"-Crap." Roger says.

There is a short pause.

Roger smirks. "Come on, at least explain it a little. The audience is dying here."

Jazz rolls her eyes. "You know how when a dog wants to dominate their owner, they'll lick them all over?"

"Yeah...I guess- I don't know! I'm a raccoon." Roger says.

"Well, that's like what Sebastian is trying to do with me." Jazz says.

She frowns. "When he grabbed on the first day, and all those other times he forced me into his grasp…" Jazz thinks.

Roger shudders. "What a crock of crap."

"I might have put myself in the doghouse by being friendly with him. But maybe if I keep my distance, I'll be fine." She says.

"Wait, what's gonna happen?" He grabs his tail. "It's something bad, right?" Roger asks.

"If he thinks he can claim me, and I don't put up a fight, he might mark me and officially make me his. Then I'm bound to him until I die...like Mr. Phantomhive is to him." Jazz says.

Roger sighs. "Jazzy, this adventure is starting to get on my nerves."

"Roger, you complained less than a minute after we time traveled and it's only now starting to get on you nerves?" Jazz asks.

"...it's always SOMETHING. We gotta save Schmoe Joe, we gotta help a bunghole orphanage, we gotta escape the three musketeers, yadda yadda yadda...Need I go on?" Roger says.

"Well it's not as hectic as it is back in Holiday. What's different about this place?" Jazz asks.

He groans. "I don't know- it's just always happening, you know? Like why is this dumb butler man beast even into you? You're a short little munchkin with huge bug eyes!" Roger says.

She glares at him. "Thanks Roger. Thanks for that...If I were to make an assumption, I'd have to say that Sebastian's interest is similar to animal instincts when mating." Jazz says.

"Um, meaning?" Roger asks.

"Meaning, he might be attracted to a certain pheromone. A smell." Jazz says.

"Well if I had a bath and some deodorant on, I doubt he'd be all up in my face 'claiming' me." Roger says.

"No, silly. Animals pick out mates based on how they smell. You should know about this, shouldn't you?" Jazz asks.

"...Oh cantaloupes this just keeps getting worse and worse." Roger says.

As if on cue, Cynthia comes out of the funeral parlor with Little Joe. She spots Jazz, and hurries over to her.

"Oh hi Miss Patterson. I'm sorry about the whole heart getting on your head..thing." Jazz says.

"Don't you mean giving her a 'heart attack'?" Roger whispers.

Jazz glares at him. "Um, are you okay?"

"Ah, well..I've been better but I'm more worried about the situation." Cynthia says.

"You mean Jack the Ripper?" Jazz asks.

She kneels down to Jazz. "Yes, this Jack the Ripper has established himself as a serial killer targeting young, prostitutes around London. I'm worried if we go after them, we may very well be sliced and surgically manipulated as his other victims." Cynthia says.

"Wait, surgery?...As in the baby maker is _surgically_ removed from the lady's private part?" Jazz says, motioning around her "area".

Cynthia blushes. "Ah, right. You may be too young to know about this, but a lot of women when they get pregnant with a child, they sometimes don't want them..-and get the baby removed from their 'baby maker' so they don't have that child. Looking at the precision of the cuts around the victim's lower area, I found it to be most likely done by a surgeon's hand or at least someone with the medical training." Cynthia says.

Jazz looks away. "So Jack the Ripper is a doc-..." She is unable to finish the thought.

"What's wrong?" Cynthia asks.

Jazz shakes her head and turns back to Cynthia. She fails to rid her face of worry.

"What is it Jazz?" Cynthia asks.

"...Uh..um..I just had a hunch about something,-...well maybe not a hunch anymore." She says under her breath.

"Miss Patterson, I have to ask. What do you do at your job?" Jazz asks.

"Hm? Oh, well..I'm not sure what's piqued your interest now, but I suppose I can explain it to you." Cynthia smiles.

"I'm an assistant-..well, more of an apprentice, actually. I'm too young and inexperienced to have the real title of the profession. But yes, I'm an apprentice to nurses at the Royal London Hospital." Cynthia says.

"So, do the nurses you work with ever perform surgeries?" Jazz asks.

Cynthia shakes her head. "Oh I wish! No, only doctors have the proper training to perform surgeries, but I have witnessed a lot of practices. Amputations, transplants, measle treatments, and even the removals of these strange bumpies!" Cynthia says, excited.

Jazz tilts her head. "...Does she means tumors?" She thinks.

"So how about…'baby removal' surgeries?" Jazz asks.

Cynthia blushes. "Right, yes. I usually have to assist in those. It's rather unpleasant, but it is common for women unmarried to go to such means, thus I endure it often." She moans.

"Hmm,...unmarried...Say, you wouldn't happen to be able to list all the female patients that come in for that surgery off the top of your head, would you?" Jazz asks.

"What-what?! Of course not…" Cynthia gasps. "What have you gotten in your head now, Miss Jazz?"

Jazz nudges Roger. "Psst. Pass me the notebook." She whispers.

Roger takes out her notebook and pencil from her book bag. She takes it and starts writing down something.

Cynthia tries looking over her shoulder to see. "There's always verbally explaining things.." She says.

When Jazz finishes writing, she looks up and notices Ciel coming towards her.

"Shoot. What could he want now?" She thinks.

Jazz quickly tears out a small section of paper from her notebook, and turns to Cynthia.

"Miss Patterson, please listen to me. I don't think we have much time. I want you to go back to work, get the names of every patient for that surgery," Jazz passes her the paper. "-and when you have all the names, call me with this number. Do NOT lose it. It's important you reach me with this so we can talk more about this."

Cynthia nods. "Certainly! Ah, my first mission from an agent." She squeals.

"Someone's cuckoo for coco puffs." Roger whispers.

Ciel reaches the two ladies and stands by Jazz's side.

"Jazmine, we're leaving now, so-" He looks at Cynthia. "Oh hello there. I don't believe we've had the pleasure. " Ciel says and tips his hat.

Cynthia smiles and curtsies. "Oh yes! My apologies Earl Phantomhive. I didn't mean to impose on your group unannounced. I'm Cynthia Patterson."

"Are you a friend of Jazmine?" Ciel asks.

"Yeah, but she has to go now. Right, Miss Patterson?" Jazz asks.

"Oh indeed! It was a pleasure to meet you in person Earl." Cynthia says.

She hurries back into her carriage and drives away.

"Hmph! Well that was abrupt." Ciel says.

Jazz nods. "It's been a pretty abrupt afternoon to be honest. Plus, she's probably had enough trauma for today anyway."

Ciel scoffs. "Trauma has more consequences than some mildly entertaining slapstick."

Jazz nods again and starts walking towards the carriage, but Ciel taps her on the arm.

She turns around. "Yes?"

Ciel blushes. "I..I apologize for what happened in there. Are you upset?"

"No, it's fine." Jazz says.

She looks away. "It's really not. But I'd rather not think about what else fueled that fight." She thinks.

"What's that look for?" Ciel asks.

"It's..nothing. I'm just worried about what's going on with this murderer."

"You don't need to be worried about anything. Queen Victoria has entrusted me to solve this case, and I never fail my Queen. Jack the Ripper will be stopped, the women will be saved, and I won't let anything happen to you." Ciel says.

"What? Oh no, well..you don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself." Jazz says.

Ciel smirks. "Is that so?"

"...What? You don't believe me?"

"Pardon my disbelief. However, I was under the impression that a child from an orphanage would be highly dependent on others." Ciel says.

"Aren't you forgetting what I did for you on that fateful day?" Jazz asks.

Ciel scoffs. "There's still more to be discussed there, and you refuse to elaborate on it. Care to share more about that fire breathing creature?"

Jazz glares at him. "Darn. I'd thought I win this argument." She thinks.

"Ah..more silence. Quite predictable." Ciel says.

"..Mr. Phantomhive.." Jazz sighs.

"Are you ever going to call me 'Ciel'?" He asks.

"..I'm worried about how we still don't have a motive, or even the murder weapon. The biggest problem you have with this investigation is somehow narrowing down every person in London who has the medical skills and lack of alibi that could place them as Jack the Ripper."

Ciel nods. "Compelling observation." He smirks. "However, I have a capable servant to acquire all that information."

Jazz rolls her eyes. "Let me guess, 'Sebastian the Magnificent'?"

Ciel glares at Sebastian. "..He is capable. As long as I give the order."

"The puppet master is at odds with his favorite puppet?" Jazz asks.

Ciel blushes. "Shut up!" He crosses his arms. "..And what do you mean by favorite?"

"..." Jazz remains silent and leers at Ciel.

"You can speak, you-

"I don't really have anything to say. Just as predicted, right?" Jazz says, walking away.

Ciel grumbles. "..Is she angry?" He thinks.

Inside the carriage, Jazz sits in between Ciel and Lau. Sitting across from them are Madame Red and Sebastian.

She crosses her arms and stares at Madame Red.

"Maybe I should keep my nose out of it. I don't know what has gotten into me, and now I have some silly lady following me around acting like a spy." Jazz sighs. "As if we could solve a murder like this..I mean, even detective Abberline couldn't solve the case, and it has forever been regarded as an unsolved mystery in history. What could I do? Should I do anything?" She thinks.

Jazz is careful to move her gaze elsewhere, and is forced to look at Sebastian. When their eyes meet, it mildly surprises him but he immediately smiles at her with his usual smug grin. She maintains her solemn expression.

"Is he even aware of what's going on? How can he just sit there and not solve it himself? I bet it'd be easy too." She glances at Ciel. "Then again, this is Ciel's game. Sebastian's just a pawn and Mr. Lau..and Madame Red too." She thinks.

Jazz looks down. "What about me?...No? I guess I'm playing my own game. Letting others help me with my goals..but they're not my pawns. And I'm definitely not a Queen..as lovely as that sounds…" She glances at Sebastian. "No. I think I'm more a knight than anything..I wonder what Sebastian thinks he is."


	54. A Clash of Tyrants

" _ **I think I'm more a knight than anything..I wonder what Sebastian thinks he is." Jazz thought.**_

…

" _Sebastian…." Ciel crossed his arms. "What the hell were you doing in there?"_

 _Sebastian smirked._ " _Pardon, Young Master?" He asked with a smug look._

 _Earlier, Ciel and Sebastian had stood outside the Undertaker's parlor further away from the group. He had made an effort to speak privately with Sebastian after their clash with one another earlier._

 _Ciel glared at him._ " _I am in no mood for these games right now, dog. So explain yourself right this minute, or do I have to make that an order?"_

 _The boy was so angry at that moment, his cheeks and ears were pinker than roses! Sebastian took too much joy in his master's anger, but he was unaware of what was causing his distress._

" _That is not necessary, Young Master. I wish to apologize deeply if my demeanor earlier had come across as hostile, but I was carrying out your orders." Sebastian said._

" _Tch. Don't give me that rubbish! When did I ever order you to grab at Jazmine like that?" Ciel said._

" _Mm.." Sebastian frowned. " Is that what upsets you? The way I touched her?"_

 _Ciel blushed._ " _Shut up. Don't scurry past the subject here!"_

 _He lifted up Ciel's chin._ " _If I may ask Young Master, what is the subject then because if you're not curious as to why I disobeyed you, I'm unsure what the issue truly is." Sebastian said._

 _He swatted Sebastian's hands away._ " _You know goddamned well what the issue is here you belligerent bastard! " Ciel said as a large vein appeared on his head._

" _Young Master..-_

 _There was a short silence, and Ciel turned away to get his breathing back in order. Sebastian was confused as to what made Ciel angry._

" _...Why? Why did you pull her away from me..and look at me like that? You've never done that before…" Ciel said._

 _Sebastian bowed._ " _Once more, I apologize for that. It will not happen again. But you see, I had to intervene for the good of your image." He said._

" _What are you talking about and what does that have to do with-_

 _Sebastian leaned in very close to Ciel._ " _Young Master, if your colleagues or allies saw you interacting with Jazmine the way you did in there, your reputation would be tarnished."_

 _He gestured to Jazz. "A noble having an affair with his servant? That would make fetching gossip, and paint you as terribly inappropriate. Not to mention your fiance. If Miss Midford were to come to the conclusion that you were having relations with another lady then her family would most assuredly break off the engagement, and further tarnish your family name with malicious rumors." Sebastian said._

 _He smiled. "For these reasons, I stopped you from placing the idea in your colleague's minds."_

 _Silence_.

 _Sebastian stared at Ciel. "Where is he looking?.." He thought._

 _Ciel appeared to be gazing at Jazmine from afar._

 _"Young Master?" Sebastian asked._

 _Ciel blushed once more. "What?"_

 _"Are you and Miss Jazmine-_

" _Don't be preposterous! What a ridiculous thing for you to suggest!" Ciel said._

" _...I didn't suggest you and Miss Jazmine were doing anything. I only said that your interaction would suggest something." Sebastian smirked. "Though, I believe your face is starting to imply something anyway."_

 _Ciel glared at him and turned away. "Shut up with your ludacris conjecture! What were you two actually discussing so intimately this morning?"_

 _"...You still recall that?" Sebastian asked._

" _Don't question me you damn snake." Ciel said._

" _Ah, I am correct then." Sebastian said._

" _So I have some competition it seems." Sebastian mumbled._

" _What did you say, dog?" Ciel asked._

Sebastian cleared his throat. " _My apologies again, Young Master."_

 _He walked away to help Lau and Madame Red into the carriage while Grell took over the front. Ciel turned back toward Jazz, still blushing. At the moment, she was talking to Cynthia._

" _This girl…" He shook his head. "-such intensity..but why?" Ciel thought._

 _Sebastian noticed Jazz._

" _So it seems I'll have to keep my eye on you." He thought._

 _Sebastian walked over to escort her into the carriage. However, Ciel absentmindedly walked towards Jazz, and got there before Sebastian. The demon stopped in his tracks.._

" _Damn, brat." He growled._

…..

After moments of pondering, Jazz places her gaze back onto Madame Red and looks over her features.

"Well let's do it. I expected a man to be the killer, but Cynthia did say that a doctor must have done it. Thus gender shouldn't matter." She thinks

The woman had a lot of attractive aspects from her face and upper torso. Her skin looked soft, and was a fair complexion. The fiery locks that hung from her scalp matched her explosive personality, but also distinguished herself because of its unusual color.

Her shoulders were thin and had no spec of muscle definition Jazz could notice from under her jacket.

"Well that's unexpected. She isn't showing much muscle there. If she did do it, how could she have the strength to restrain and slice through women probably of similar build? I mean she's older, but..that doesn't equal superior strength." Jazz thinks.

She looks down at her feet. "Ugh. Here I go meddling again, and coming up short. How can I judge just by looking? She probably didn't do it." Jazz thinks.

She stares at Madame Red's chest. "Hmm..she's-

Madame Red catches Jazz and is disturbed.

Jazz flinches. "...I really really like your outfit."

Madame Red smiles. "Aw, you are such a sweetie~ Come on, come sit on Auntie's lap." She says, patting at her thighs.

Ciel groans. "Madame Red, could you not harass my servant again?"

"Yes, she's probably still disturbed by you shooing her away earlier." Sebastian says.

Madame Red grabs Jazz from her seat, and places her on her lap.

"Ah! This lady's quick!...Wait.." Jazz thinks.

She starts touching all over Madame Red, but she grabs at Jazz's hand.

"Oh rubbish!" She pinches Jazz's cheek. "I could never stay mad at this darling little one."

She rubs her nose against Jazz's. "No I cannot~" Madame Red says.

Ciel facepalms. "..She's not a baby.."

"Oh? Don't tell me you're getting jealous Ciel. You'll always be my precious little gumdrop~" Madame Red says.

Sebastian stifles a laugh.

Ciel blushes. "Madame!"

Lau pouts. "So it's okay for you to touch her, but not me?" He mumbles to himself.

Ciel sighs. "Sebastian?"

"Yes, Young Master?"

"From the Undertaker's "lewd" explanation, we can assume that our killer has a background in surgical procedures, and is taking out organs from his victims. What do you make of the organ removals?" Ciel asks.

"We should consider the removal of the victim's uterus possibly a connection to person's involved in supernatural rituals being done behind closed doors." Sebastian says.

"Wait, you think that's why her private parts are being taken out?" Jazz asks.

Madame Red smiles. "Aw, you just get even more adorable."

"Madame Red, focus on the investigation!" Ciel shouts.

"For your information, I am focused. I think we should consider the fact that there are very many people in London with the medical skills to carry out the murders- I mean even I'm capable. So to come up with a list of suspects tied not only medical training, but also to supernatural rituals would be near impossible." Madame Red says.

"The Madame certainly has a point. It would be difficult to come up with a list, and question everyone…" Lau smirks. "-but I sense Butler-kun to be up to the challenge. Am I correct?" He asks, turning toward Sebastian.

"If my Young Master requests it be done, I shall obey his orders." Sebastian says.

"Very well. Sebastian, scrounge up a list of suspects fitting the profile, and return to the townhouse. Don't take all afternoon." Ciel says, confidently.

"Sebastian, I know you are an excellent butler, but even you'd have trouble-

Before Madame Red could finish her sentence, Sebastian stands halfway out the carriage door. He gives a polite wave and then whoosh!...He was gone. Madame Red and Lau look out the carriage window to see Sebastian. Jazz takes advantage of the distraction, and moves back over to Ciel's side.

"H-He knows we're still moving right?" Madame Red asks, shocked.

"Supernatural rituals?…How? Who? And why? That private part provides virtually no functions after being removed from a woman. As far as symbolism goes, it is a structure for life to begin...I can't deny the idea of it being used in a ritual, but...it sounds too obscure. What would someone summon that required that organ?" Jazz thinks.

She strokes her chin. "And then there's still the question. Who did it? Madame Red just pointed out that she is suspect, but without a clear motive, they can't just accuse her of doing the crimes...I need a motive, darn it!"

Ciel leans in closer to Jazz and blows in her ear.

"Ah! Bajeebs!" Jazz thinks.

"Hmph. You make such crude faces when you go into thought like that. What were you thinking about?" He asks.

She taps her head. "...It's just another moment of brain fog. Imagine that you've gotten so close to figuring the killer in this case, but then..-POOF!" She pulls at her hair.

"You get stuck in the fog."

"...How..poetic?" Ciel says.

"...I need to stop talking to people. It'll save me the embarrassment." She thinks.

"Anyway, I wouldn't go into frustration about it. Sebastian will turn up results and then we'll get some more answers. You don't have to worry, Jazmine." Ciel says.

" ...what if you didn't like the results-..what Sebastian finds?" Jazz asks.

"What do you mean if I don't like it? What must be done, will be done." Ciel says.

Ciel moves his hand towards Jazz's wrist and she pulls her hand away.

She turns away to check on her bracelet.

"I-It's still gold?!..Why?" Jazz thinks.

"Jazmine? Did I…-" Ciel begins.

Jazz scoots away from him. "Oh no it's not you..I-I hurt my wrist earlier, and it still hurts..Sorry."

Ciel reaches for her hand again. "How bad does it hurt? Maybe Madame Red can look at it-

"My, my! What are you two lovebirds talking about over there?" Lau asks.

"Lovebirds?" Madame Red smiles. "Ciel, what is he talking about?"

Ciel crosses his arms. "What does that matter? Honestly! I am merely worried about my servant's well being."

"Oh.." Madame Red pouts. "Well don't worry young Jazmine. There shall be a time and place where we shall find you a perfect gentlemen."

Ciel glares at her. "..While Sebastian is gathering information, we can return to the townhouse and have some tea."

…

The group return to the townhouse. Grell hurries to escort everyone out the carriage. Ciel leads the way towards the townhouse entrance and opens the door. Madame Red, Lau, and Grell are all shocked to find Sebastian standing right at the door.

"Wh-what?! How did you get here so quickly?!" Madame Red asks.

"Well Madame, I performed my master's requests and returned in time to serve his guests. Any Phantomhive butler who cannot perform such a simple task isn't worth his salt." Sebastian says.

"A...Amazing." Grell says.

"Mmm~ Butler-kun as usual has surpassed my expectations." He looks at Jazz. "Isn't that impressive, _little one?_ " Lau says.

Ciel smiles proudly while looking at the three's shocked expressions. He turns back to Sebastian and hands him his coat and hat.

Jazz and Roger glare at Sebastian. "So you got a list…wonderful. Now have you actually narrowed down a suspect?"


	55. Deviating From The Plan

"...Well, of course, my dear. I am one hell of a butler after all. I've narrowed our list to a prime suspect based on the credentials suggested, and found only one likely lead." Sebastian says.

Jazz taps her foot. "Who is..?"

"A Viscount Druitt. Also goes by the name of Aleister Chambers." Sebastian says.

"He's..a nobleman?" Jazz thinks.

"Ah, isn't he a young graduate hosting balls in London?" Lau asks.

"Yes, and I have gathered information about a ball he is hosting tonight. Young Master, if you wish to make significant progress on this investigation I suggest we make the preparations now to attend said ball." Sebastian says.

Jazz bites her lip. "He's so hasty about this. How is he confident…-Oh yeah. He's a demon. Being a supernatural must be fun..but could he have overlooked any clues?" She thinks.

Sebastian places a hand on Jazz's shoulder and rubs it, softly.

"Ah! Get off!" She thinks.

Sebastian kneels down and gives her a reassuring smile.

"Young Jazmine, you have a thoughtful look about you." Sebastian asks.

Ciel glares at him. "What does he think he's doing touching her like that?" He thinks.

Jazz shakes her head. "...Oh..no..Can demons read minds?!" She thinks.

"Sebastian, this is quite puzzling. In fact, I have to ask. Are you confident this Viscount Druitt is our man?" Madame Red says.

"I assure you my lady that I have done exactly as ordered by my master. A Phantomhive butler who cannot perform such thorough research isn't worth his salt." Sebastian says.

"...No one else is arguing...yet." Jazz thinks.

"We need to get prepared for this ball, and I'm more than ready to put this matter to rest." Ciel says.

"Of course, my lord. If you all will follow me." Sebastian says.

Everyone begins heading upstairs to the lounge room, but a strange sound goes off from Jazz's body.

"Huh? Why now of all times?"

She pulls up the sleeve of her jacket to check her bracelet.

"..Wait...it's not that. Then what could it be?" She thinks.

Jazz pats at herself to find the noise, but is ushered upstairs by Madame Red and Grell. Back into the room, everyone sits down in their previous seats.

She feels a vibration on her back.

"Of course!" Jazz thinks.

She grabs at her backpack and starts walking towards a seat far away from everyone, Sebastian touches her arm.

He smiles. "I'd prefer if you allowed us your company, Miss Jazmine." Sebastian gestures towards the group. "In fact, I'm sure everyone would appreciate your presence." He smirks. "Right, Young Master?"

Ciel hides his blush."...W-Whatever."

Jazz reluctantly takes a seat beside Lau and holds onto her backpack to suppress the buzzing sound. Sebastian stands by her and places his hand on her shoulder, making sure Ciel sees the contact. He stares daggers at Sebastian and clears his throat loudly.

"Now that we are all situated, let's talk about our plan of action. Sebastian, when is this ball to be held?" Ciel asks.

"The ball will begin around 8:30 this evening, my lord." Sebastian says.

"Mm. It seems we don't have a fair amount of time to plan.." Lau smirks. "-but what shall the Earl devise anyway?"

"From what I know of this fellow, he seems to be the 'loose' type, so we could entertain him with the proper distraction." Ciel says.

"Oh, well I'm afraid I'm unaware of this man's character." Lau says.

"You don't know anything?" Madame Red asks.

"Well..he is a popular customer of my escorts!" Lau says, enthusiastically.

Everyone glares at him.

"I think that says enough about his character, Mr. Lau." Jazz thinks.

Madame Red grins. "Well you all know I have the greatest gossip London has to offer! I heard the Viscount is best known for hosting lovely balls in the fall. He absolutely enjoys the close company of other nobles…especially, young ladies.."

Everyone turns to Jazz.

She looks around. "...What?"

"Hehe. If this man has a taste for youth of the female persuasion, it should make sense that-

"No." Ciel says, firmly.

"Eh?" Lau asks.

"Young, Master?" Sebastian asks.

"You heard me. I'm not allowing it. Think of something else." Ciel says.

"What's the harm of this sprite seducing the Viscount, Earl? If she succeeds, then we can confirm him as the killer. Assuming he doesn't hold his alibi at the ball." Lau says.

"Seduce?! Who do these people think I am? Marilyn Monroe?...and how old do they think I am?" Jazz thinks.

"What part of 'no' don't you understand?" Ciel says.

"...And I'm not a noble anyway." Jazz mutters.

"Oh deary, men like Viscount Druitt don't care about details of such! As long as you look the part I'm confident you could pull it off." Madame Red smiles.

"And this would also be great practice for you when finding a suitor."

"S-S-SUITOR?!" Jazz thinks.

Ciel and Sebastian tense up.

"..Is that necessary?" Jazz asks.

"Why of course! How do you expect to make a name for yourself if you're not betrothed to a wealthy man?" Madame Red says.

"Madame Red, focus!" Ciel yells.

"Whoops, apologies for that." Madame Red chuckles.

"Jazmine is too noticeably young to be our distraction in this case, and the Viscount would not be careless to flirt with her publicly. We must consider a different method." Ciel says.

"Young Master, if I may interject a moment." Sebastian says.

"What?" Ciel asks.

"I'd like to say that I believe a female distraction would be beneficial to this plan, but perhaps instead of Miss Jazmine playing the role, we have someone else?" Sebastian asks.

Ciel scoffs. "And just what are you suggesting?"

Sebastian grins and suddenly straps a wig onto Ciel's head. He yells in protest, but it was too late...Lau, Madame Red, and Grell all held in laughter at the sight.

Ciel now had on a black, pig-tailed wig. Sebastian presented a mirror to Ciel, and his face became red as a strawberry!

"Eh?!" Ciel internally screams.

He turns away from everyone and throws the wig at Sebastian's face.

"You're out of your bloody mind if you think I'm wearing that! You-...You had this all planned out didn't you, you bastard?" Ciel says.

"Well as I said to Miss Jazmine earlier, a Phantomhive butler always-

"Shut your idiotic trap." Ciel glances at Jazz and then back at Sebastian. "Don't think I don't see what you're doing.." He says.

"Ha ha. I personally see it fitting for the Earl to put on such a ruse." Lau says.

Ciel glares at Lau. "A-and just what are you implying there?!"

Madame Red claps. "Why yes, it's quite ingenious actually! In this plan, we could have Ciel pose as a noble young lady unrelated to the Phantomhive family with..-" She smiles at Sebastian. "-her handsome tutor escorting her!"

"Oh, I see..This way Mr. Phantomhive can hide his identity at the party while at the same time getting the information he needs." Jazz thinks.

She smirks at Ciel. "You could be a master of disguise like Sherlock Holmes...but a kid." Jazz says.

Ciel blushes. "...Her..smile."

"My lord, it is considered rude to stare." Sebastian whispers.

Ciel swats Sebastian away from his ear. "Shut your trap, dog!" He whispers back.

Sebastian chuckles and leans away from Ciel.

"So..are you gonna do it or not?" Jazz asks.

"Yes, of course. I am bound by my family to honor the Queen and since you all seem to have much faith in this approach, I must conclude that it can succeed." Ciel says.

"Excellent. Then let us get to the lessons without haste!" Madame Red says.

"Lessons?" Ciel asks.

"Well if you are to act the part, you must know how a lady should present herself at all times." Sebastian smirks. "Are you ready to learn, my lady- I mean, my Lord?" He says, trying to avoid another chuckle.

Ciel gives Sebastian the evil eye and rises from his chair. Both he, Sebastian, Lau, and Madame Red leave the room to begin Ciel's lessons on being a lady. This left Jazz and Grell in the room. Roger jumps off her shoulder, and opens up her backpack to check the buzzing sound that was still emitting. Grell sits down next to Jazz, and taps her shoulder.

She looks up at him, confused. "Oh yeah...he's still here...Hopefully he'll leave soon..or my weirdness could drive him away." Jazz thinks.

"Tsk. Tsk. Now I'm certain that boy is hopelessly infatuated with you." Grell says.

She sighs. "..So I've heard.." Jazz says.

Roger takes out what is making the noise. The sound was coming from a green rectangular box with two rows of four white squares in it. A blinking red light is on a corner of the box, which Roger taps at with the nail of his paw.

Jazz notices the blinking device.

She faces Grell. "You aren't going with everyone else?"

"I was hoping to chat with you about this 'impending doom for the future' subject you brought up earlier! Gracious, first you're all over me and now you want to chase me off? Hmph!" Grell says.

She glares at him. "I could have said the same thing about you a few weeks ago."

Grell smirks. "I take it 'friendliness' is not your strong suit."

"...Your Madame probably needs some help with Mr. Phantomhive's lessons." Jazz says.

"Say..why are you quick to run me off?" Grell says.

Jazz shakes her head. "I'd like to be alone if you don't mind."

Grell notices the blinking device and grins.

"Ah..well perhaps you are correct, Young Jazmine. Afterall, I must put on a convincing performance as this butler type..Farewell." He says, walking away.

Jazz exhales in relief. "Oh thank Zeus.." She thinks.

Grell does a complete 180° and grabs at the device in Roger's hand.

"Ah!" Roger shouts.

"What an unusual trinket!" Grell says.

Jazz grabs Roger and pushes Grell back.

"Would you quit that and just leave?" Jazz says.

"Touchy..but I am only curious. What is it?

"...It has nothing to do with you." Jazz says.

Grell frowns. "This rude brat." He thinks.

He plucks Jazz on the forehead and she drops the device.

"Hey!" Jazz says.

"Last time we chatted little missy, you proposed that we come together as a team for the sake of some irrelevant apocalypse supposedly threatening humanity in your 'time period'. I must say if this is how you treat people whom you wish to help you, you're never going to get anywhere."

Jazz grimaces. "What about what you? You're always getting in the way of whatever I'm trying to do, and when I actually need your help, you dismiss me. Who could treat that kindly?"

"Ah, but that is all part of the act, my dear. You can't expect my performance to satisfy everyone, can you?" Grell says.

"...I don't care. I-I can't forget what you did, or who you are...and you won't even tell Mr. Phantomhive who the murderer is." Jazz says.

Grell rolls his eyes. "Pbbt! I believe I liked you better when you ignored me."

Jazz shakes her head. "Ugh! He is such a..-a big fat jerkel." She thinks.

"Your anger is unfounded, child; unfortunately for you, I have no sympathy to give to such angst." Grell says.

"..Maybe I'm not perfect..Maybe I'm not nice at all,..but I'm not trying to be your enemy. You have the answers I need. The power I need. Can't you find it in yourself to give me a chance?" Jazz asks.

"Yawn. Such boring climax. Where is the true tension in this scene?" Grell asks.

"W-what? What..in the name of Zeus..are you talking about?" Jazz asks.

"If this truly was a situation of grandiose consequences, why would they send a child like you to deliver a message? Your boring, bland tone. This unemotional face...I can't condition myself to believe any of it." Grell says.

Grell turns around and heads out of the room. "It's a shame really." He says.

"...What?" Jazz asks.

"I thought you'd be fun company, but you've manage to unimpress me in the most depressing way." Grell says.

He walks away, shaking his head.

Jazz turns back around to stare at the device with Roger.

She sighs. "...This is why I hate conversations with people...I always say something bad, then it all falls apart."

Roger shrugs his shoulders. "I see it like flipping a coin. Sometimes it's a heads...or it's a really ugly tails. You can't blame anyone for trying to get a perfect outcome."

Jazz looks away. "..It's probably me, though.."

She takes the device into her hands.

"Heya, what's the deal with this do hickey?" His ears lower. "It's not a bomb, right?" Roger asks.

"Yeah, Roger I got so fed up with this plan, I thought maybe I'd blow us all to heck." Jazz says, sarcastically.

"Pbbt! Better yet, throw it at Ol' One Eye. That should wrap up this crap real quick." Roger says.

"It's not a bomb, silly. It's a portable 'Autonomous, Anarchist, Rationale, Operating, Noncompliant.'" Jazz says.

"..You wanna say that again in English, Jazzy?" Roger asks.

"Aaron...it's Aaron." Jazz says.

"The Tin Man?! You brought that clunk of junk robot with us?" Roger asks.

"I-I didn't bring him. I didn't even know Ron finished the schematics of this invention yet." Jazz says.

"Wait, what invention?" Roger asks.

"Ron and I had ideas about somehow allowing Aaron the ability to be compacted into a form we could have with us at all times. I guess he must've finished the invention by himself.." She sighs. "There better not be bugs."

"Ugh, let's just toss this crud in the trash and move on. We don't need no whiny, drama queen robot cramping our style!" Roger says.

Jazz looks over the device. "Hmm, it wouldn't be that ridiculous..." She mutters.

Roger groans. "...I might as well ask since you're just gonna do whatever you want anyway. So what? What wouldn't be ridiculous?"

"Activating him. Aaron's really useful. I mean a computer network of data, a visual communication receiver; best of all he can gather materials I need to make more inventions." Jazz says.

Roger sighs heavily. "If you think he can help...But I think I prefer the help of Nurse Jackie over this robot guy. At least she doesn't whine."

"Miss Patterson's cool, but we know Aaron, and he can be really reliable...when he tries at least." Jazz says.

Roger snatches the box. "So how do ya' get him up and running, huh?".

He sniffs the box.

"...Um...I'm not actually sure on this one. I didn't finish this invention, and the schematics I worked on with Ron are kinda hard to remember." She taps the box. "Let me think.."

Jazz looks over the entire device, and sets it down on the coffee table in front of her. She stands up and looks at the white squares in the green box. She touches one square and a musical note is heard. She and Roger look at each other and then back at the box. Roger jumps onto the coffee table and taps another square; a different note plays. Jazz plays the other two notes, and nods her head.

"Alright, I think I know what Ron was doing here." She scratches her head. "There's less notes now, though." Jazz mumbles.

Roger grins. "Your idea was a mini piano with barely any keys?"

Be quiet." She taps each key. "It's supposed to be something unique to me, Ron, and Shawna. A tune we all are cursed to know by heart."

Jazz plays the four keys, repeating the last one twice.

"Wait a minute, you don't mean.." Roger begins.

Jazz nods and begins playing keys. "' _Maxwell you're so cool...Maxwell is the coolest school...Maxwell you're the one..Maxwell you're so funnnn!_ ' She sings.

Roger covers his ears, but his poor eardrums cannot do enough to block the horrendous sound waves that were pouring in! This beginning tune, I will admit is not the most catchy; when you're a student in Holiday at the infamous Childers Prepatory School, you know this anthem like the back of your hand! This was the beginning of Jazz's school anthem. It is notorious for being horribly written, horribly sang every pep rally or school announcement, and generally reinforced on students so they learn to inspire school spirit….I've already given you one terrible song, so I'll spare you the rest of the lyrics _(If you're curiosity is really peaked, you can read more of my accounts of Jazz's adventures in an original piece, but for now….)._

Jazz finishes the terrible song with the keys played on the box, which opens up the device. The red light stops flashing, and the sides of the box retracted. Suddenly a long, metal rod emerges from it.

After a few odd seconds, the green box separates into many pieces and similar to a super magnet, the pieces attach to the metal rod. They start forming what looks like a human like figure, but there's one problem.

All the ligaments, and body parts are there except a head. Jazz and Roger are disturbed at what they're seeing _(or I guess what they're not)_. Jazz notices the same buzzing noise from before, and looks at her bag. It is vibrating wildly and ready to fly off the chair!

 _I must have jinxed it_ because Jazz's bag begin to shoot up into the air. She grabs Roger and ducks as the bag zips past them and dashes into the incomplete robot's body.

 _CRASH!_

When Jazz and Roger recover, they looked back to find that the robot's form was completed. Its head apparently was a separated piece altogether that Jazz or Roger hadn't noticed was still in the bag. But more alarming than that was the robot, Aaron I should call him, broke Ciel's wooden coffee table from Jazz's bag launching at him.


	56. Doubting Intelligence

"…...UGGHHHHH…" Aaron stretches his arms.

"Well this bites." He moans.

Jazz and Roger lift themselves up from the floor. Roger jumps onto her shoulder and glares at Aaron.

"Always gotta make a scene, don't ya? Well yeah, this _does_ bite, ya copper headed bum! You just broke Ol One Eye's coffee table!" He yells.

"What?" Aaron looks down, noticing broken wooden pieces. "No, not that! I left my music drive at home. Now I got nothing to listen to..."

"Shhh! Shut up you two. There are other people in this house -and.." Jazz looks around, carefully.

"-Nevermind that now...um, Aaron?"

Aaron takes out a magazine and soda. "Uh-huh."

Jazz moves closer to him.

"..What are you doing here?" She asks.

"Well, I was uh..-" He flips a page.

"...trying to find a good place to uh…-" He flips couple more pages.

"-...and somehow got-" He slurps his drink.

"..distracted.." Aaron drones on.

Jazz grabs the magazine and soda from Aaron's hands.

"...Top of the Line Catches? Really?" She looks at the soda can. "And you can't even drink this stuff."

"Hey, what do you know? A bot can like things too." He snatches his soda back.

"And for your information Little Miss Nasty, this is my oil fuel! I may not have a beating heart like you people, but I can still decorate my energy sources like you...Monsters." Aaron says.

Jazz rolls her eyes. "...Right. Is everything alright with Shawna and Ron? Is that why you're here?"

"You kidding me? I don't know, and more importantly, it's not my problem." Aaron says.

He sits down on the couch.

"Psst! I think we can still deactivate him. Quick, break out that hammer!" Roger whispers.

Aaron projects a holographic calendar from his chest.

"You see here? The 23rd is officially "Everyone Can Screw Themselves Day" for A.A.R.O.N. So that means I do what I want, and not care." He says.

"Oh, so you mean like everyday then." Jazz says.

"Bingo." Aaron takes back his magazine.

There is a ten second silence and Jazz sits down next to Aaron.

She leans her head back and closes her eyes.

"Say, what are you two up to anyway?" Aaron asks.

"What do you care for, Tin Can?"

"Hm, what was that?..I thought I heard roadkill talking." Aaron.

Roger gets ready to attack Aaron, but Jazz holds him back.

She looks over at his magazine.

"What are you reading anyway? A dumb robot like you probably can't read!" Roger asks.

"I wouldn't talk about reading skills if I were you.." Aaron says.

"Could you guys stop?..." Jazz mumbles.

"He started it." Roger says.

"..I don't care."

She turns to Aaron. "If you must know, we're on a mission...but you already knew that."

"No I don't." Aaron asks.

She tears off a piece of his magazine.

"...That's why you're here. You liar."

Aaron glares at her.

"Top of the Line Catches" is a fishing magazine that contained information about great areas around the world for fishing enthusiasts and hobbyists. The page Aaron was reading gave facts about Walthamstow Reservoirs, a body of water located in Tottenham, London.

"And so what? I'm not allowed a vacation?!" Aaron says.

She pinches the bridge of her nose. "Look, I have a proposition for you Aaron. You can say yes and save the world, or you can say no and be isolated from your resources for eternity."

Aaron flips another page. "...I'm hardly listening, darling."

Roger growls. " Look here tin can, if you don't-

Jazz leans on Aaron's shoulder. "Hm? Well that's a coincidence."

"What, Angel? This Tin Man's uselessness?" Roger asks.

Aaron plucks Roger in the back of the head, and he yells out in pain. She taps at the picture of the river.

"It's actually not too far from here. I'm surprised you hadn't taken off earlier."

"..Shut up. You know that I couldn't get out on my own." Aaron says.

"Hey..so if it weren't for us, you'd still be trapped in your little box body!" Roger says.

Jazz smiles at Aaron and he flinches.

"Ugh, don't do that. You look unnatural."

"Your batteries are low. That's it isn't it?" She asks.

Aaron ignores her.

"...Okay, new deal. If I charge you up and take you to the Reservoirs, you have to help us on this mission." Jazz says.

"And what slave work would I be forced to do?" Aaron asks.

"If it's not much, it'd be nice to have some technical backup on our side. What do you say?" Jazz asks.

"I get the feeling that I'm going to regret this, so I say...no." Aaron says.

"...Well I guess that's it, Jazzy. This Metal Gearhead isn't interested. I guess we can stick with Nurse Jackie." Roger says.

Jazz gets up from her seat, looking intensely at the magazine. "Aaron, you know you're reading a modern magazine, right?"

"..Nope. Definitely got this from a caveman." Aaron says, sarcastically.

"Hehe, well here's a little modern history lesson for you since you're such a clever bot. The Walthamstow Reservoirs were created by the East London Waterworks Company during the middle of the 19th century. Around this time, the UK had some issues managing their sewage, rivers, and drinking water. This problem led to a lot of cholera outbreaks caused by the poopy, polluted water. It wouldn't be until the Water Act of 1973 and control given to the Thames Water company where this problem would be solved." Jazz says.

"...So what?" Aaron asks.

"The East London Waterworks Company was accused for some of these pollution problems, so it's safe to say that all the little fishies you wanna catch are already 'caught' with death or illness." Jazz says, grimacing.

"OHHHHHHH! Ha, ha, ha!" Roger jumps on Aaron's head.

"Ha, ha ha! Take that, Robo-dunce!" He laughs.

Roger does the Macarena on top of Aaron's head.

Aaron tosses his magazine on the floor. "...I hate you sometimes."

"You want to talk about hate? I HATE how I have to barter with you to get you to help. It's insane." Jazz says.

"I'm a busy bot. You expect me to drop everything to help you and those other two nuts?" He asks.

"Aaron, the world's in danger in case you haven't gotten the hints." Jazz says.

"I thought a Little Miss Independent like you could figure out your own problems. You never barked about needing help before." Aaron says.

"...I think I was wrong. It's not just my own problem either. It's everyone's problem. What about that don't you get?"

"The part where I have to be involved. I didn't ask to be created for this trivial nonsense. You humans practically contribute to most conflict." Aaron says.

She groans. "I can't make you understand..."

There is a long pause, and Jazz lets out a deep breath.

"...Sorry." She says.

She picks up his magazine and hands it back to him.

"If you do this, maybe we can have our own vacations from these doomsday disasters. But it won't be an option if you don't do anything." Jazz says, softly.

Aaron swats Roger off his head and rises from the couch.

He gently pats her head. "Way to ruin my day by whipping out a speech Hallmark cards would scoff at. Man, if you really needed help you would've brought those two lunatics." Aaron says.

"Supernatural phenomenon is tricky to get behind. Even I'm having a hard time grasping it." Jazz says.

"So your little nerd pack couldn't tag along?" Roger asks.

"...I had thought it would be best if they hold down the fort at Holiday. The town is already at a weak state as it is with the whole..Holiday West vs. East thing? But maybe I was wrong.." Jazz says.

Aaron shrugs his shoulders. "..Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night, kid."

Jazz goes back to her book bag. She pulls out Aristocratic Oaths: Broken.

"Could you make things easier by scanning the book for us? With that done, you'll be a walking encyclopedia to help us when we need reference or new information." Jazz says.

She passes the book to Aaron.

"Ughhh, fine. I'm not at my full power. So don't expect me to absorb everything right away." Aaron says.

Jazz looks over at the broken table pieces.

"Bajeebs, we sure do make messes fast. I wish there was an undo button like on a computer." Jazz says.

"Hehe, same." Roger says.

"Oh what? Was that like code for "Aaron clean up our $x#%!" He asks.

Jazz scoffs. "Relax, I'm not that jerky. I'll clean it up….then come up with an excuse."

She strokes her chin. "Say like a vampire came in, but instead of sucking blood..he sucks table fragments..yeah."

Aaron slowly claps. "And the Oscar goes to.."

"..Shut your face." Jazz says.

Aaron starts scanning parts of the book while Jazz and Roger collect the bits of the broken table. After they finish, they still notice that Ciel and his group have not come back from the other room.

"This is way too long for simple etiquette lessons. I mean, is Ciel hard headed or something?" Jazz asks.

"Betcha ten bucks Ol One Eye lost his mind and gave up on the plan completely." Roger says.

She shakes her head. "He wouldn't do that….maybe."

"Ah, I wouldn't put it past the little coward." Aaron says.

"Bajeebs...that's cold." Jazz mutters.

Suddenly, Ciel and his group appear from down the hall and re-enter the main room. Ciel is hiding behind Lao, but you can still see the end of his pink, frilly dress.

Roger grins. "Hehe, nice frills. One Eye." He whispers.

Lau, Madame Red, and Sebastian are all dressed in their "disguises". Grell remains in his regular suit.

Madame Red gasps. "Young Jazmine...what is that over there?"

"Oh…..it's um, a friend." Jazz says, quietly.

"Hm~ Mei nu seems to have a lot of friends showing up today." Lao says.

"First Cynthia, and now...a gentleman?" Madame Red asks.

Ciel continues to hide behind Lau, but peeks his head out to see Aaron.

"A GENTLEMEN?!" Ciel mentally yells.

Sebastian moves over towards Aaron, suspicious. He sniffs him then strokes his chin.

"Pardon me sir, but who may you be?" Sebastian asks.

Aaron glances at Jazz then back at Sebastian.

"...Uh, name's Complying Awesome Bot...creature." Aaron says.

Jazz crosses her arms. "His name is Aaron. He's joking with you."

Sebastian lends out his hand to Aaron, but the robot ignores it.

He glares at him. "Was that another joke, Mr. Aaron?".

"...I'm not surprised you creatures have no sense of humor. What is surprising is how dumb you are." Aaron says.

Jazz stands in front of Aaron and pushes Sebastian back slightly.

"Wow, he just doesn't know when to stop joking around."

She looks behind Sebastian. "So, you guys are ready to go now?"

Sebastian clears his throat. "Yes, we're getting ready to exit this house now, but-

"Great. What am I wearing?" Jazz asks.

Madame Red walks over to Jazz and places a hand on her shoulder.

"Apologies deary, but you're not coming along this time." She says.

"What? Well how am I supposed to..-

Jazz stares expectantly at Sebastian.

"The Young Master has requested that you stay here in his townhouse until we return. Is that correct?" Sebastian says.

He turns to face Ciel, who is still hiding behind Lau.

"..Y-yes!" Ciel mutters.

Sebastian points to Grell. "After dropping off Young Master's associates and I at the ball, Mr. Sutcliff will be returning to the town house to monitor you. While here, you will perform minor upkeep on the home: Arrange flowers, decorate, sew. Whatever your preference."

He glares at Aaron. "I also expect this fellow to be gone."

Sebastian begins leading everyone out the door.

"Don't worry deary. We shouldn't be gone for too long and when we arrive back, I'll be sure to have a chat with on potential suitors for you." Madame Red says.

She walks with the rest out the door and Jazz doesn't have a chance to speak up before they vanish.

Jazz sighs heavily. "Great. Just great. I was mildly excited to see Ciel in action as 'the lovely seductress'."

"I doubt it'd be that interesting." Aaron says.

"What makes you say that?…-

"You saw the way he was hiding didn't you? He'd never let any of us see his disguise." Aaron says.

He leans against a chair. "So, what's the gameplan, kid?"

"...We wait...I guess. To be honest, I'm still debating why I got invested in all this. Thrill of the mystery? Convenient distraction?" Jazz says.

"Hm, it _is_ the Jack the Ripper case. Famous for never finding the true killer." Aaron says.

She nods.

"Would you want to find the killer?" Aaron asks.

"..Well yeah. It's one of the unknown mysteries of history. But if we did find the killer, revealing who did it wouldn't be smart. Who knows how history could be affected?" Jazz asks.

"Eh..you're no fun. If I cared, I'd spoil everything. Then show up in history books, showered in glory." Aaron says.

"...Nice, Aaron." She says.

Jazz scratches her cheek. "I'm so lost as to who it could be. It'd be a miracle to find out who it was.

"Why, my bet it was that nasty Druid guy they're after." Roger says.

"Druitt, roadkill. And what makes you think he's the guy?" Aaron says.

"Easy! He's…..that butt head butler's suspect. And the butler's some magical monster thing, so he can't be wrong." Roger says.

"Roger, he's a demon. That doesn't mean he can't be wrong sometimes." Jazz says.

"Then who did it?" Roger says.

"..If I was allowed to go, we might have found out." Jazz says.

Suddenly, a ringing noise is heard; Jazz checks her book bag, and pulls out a phone.

Jazz gasps. "..Holy cheese."


	57. Overcoming Odds

"Jazzy, who's-

"Hush, roadkill." Aaron says.

She looks at her phone; the screen reads "Unknown". Jazz quickly taps the screen and holds the phone to her ear. For a few seconds there is a silence, but she starts to hear a repetitive vibration that sounds oddly like words…

"H..H..H..e..e..e..l..l..l..o..o..o.." The voice says.

"...Roger, I think it's Miss Patterson." Jazz says.

"How is this even happening?" Roger asks.

"Well it's obviously not impossible, dumbskull! And who's this Patterson lady?" Aaron asks.

Jazz mutes the phone. "I'll tell you later. The call's too rough to listen in and I think it's my omni telecommunication droid's receiver. I was afraid of this."

Roger looks around, wildly. "...WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"

Aaron takes Jazz's device. "Let me take a closer look at that."

Jazz glares at him. "Ever heard of 'please'?"

He checks the back of it and notices the seal. "Ah, I see. It's one of their inventions. Hayashi made a brand mark for the thing."

"So if it's not a phone...then what is it?" Roger asks.

Jazz snatches the device back. "It's easier to call it a phone, but it's not. It would be idiotic to bring a real phone. The way modern cell phones are engineered, they are useless power wasters."

Aaron points to the apps tab on the device. "If playing Kitty Roar Time 3 isn't a useless power waster, I'm living in a bizarro world bereft of logic."

Jazz pouts. "..Shut up."

"What's wrong with cell phones? They're pretty fun." Roger says.

"My dad would never let me have my own cell phone..He thinks it turns little kids into zombies." Jazz says.

She looks around, spastically. "Enough talk. I need to fix the telecommunication droid's receiver to hear the call clearly. Aaron, can you give me a screwdriver?"

He takes a screwdriver out of his head. "So you're gonna rewire the thing?" Aaron asks.

Jazz takes the screw driver, turns her droid around, and quickly unscrews the back. Roger jumps on her shoulder and leans in closer to see. Aaron bends down to Jazz's level and pulls out tweezers from his head. He passes it to her and she pulls out wires from the droid.

"You still haven't answered my question, kid." Aaron says.

"It's not simple, but I have an idea. Let's think Victorian Era, 1889." She says.

Roger nods. "'K."

"Alexander Bell's 1870s phone model is being used now. So we're working against that technology."

"Yeah, yeah. We're following." Aaron says.

"The phone model depended on the caller to speak heavily into the device's diaphragm. Sound waves put pressure on tiny grains of carbon in the diaphragm, but it is the electricity traveling through these grains that ultimately help with sound coming out. If I manipulate the wires of my droid and add an electric current to the device, I can increase the frequency of her soundwaves...maybe."

"...Geez Jazzy, even Steve Jobs couldn't listen to that! What does that mean?" Roger asks.

"It means if she adds electricity to her phone, then she can hear this Patterson lady better." Aaron says.

Jazz picks up Roger. "I'm sorry to do this to you buddy, but I swear it won't hurt a bit..much."

"What?" Roger asks.

Jazz rubs Roger's fur against a rug until static sparks make his fur rise up. She takes his finger and touches the two wires in her phone. Suddenly, a great huge volt of electricity surges straight into the phone!

"Oh, well that wasn't so bad-"

Roger's finger catches fire.

AHHHHHHHH!" He screams.

"Oh relax you little hairball." Aaron says.

He pulls a fire extinguisher from his chest and sprays Roger down..a little too much. The poor racoon ends up completely covered in fire retardant foam.

Roger glares at him. "...I swear I would bite you..but I wanna keep my teeth intact."

"Whatevs." Aaron turns to Jazz. "Oh and great job solving ½ the problem, but you still haven't figured out how you're going to talk to her through your transmitter and receiver.

"That's trickier, but this is where you come in. I've..unironically based the droid's structure to that of a modern cell phone." Jazz says.

"So…the cell phone technology of the droid will depend on a signal from a radio tower. One problem: there are no towers in the Victorian era." Aaron says.

"Right. But you have the capabilities of a tower. Your head, specifically." Jazz says.

"Oh...I hate where this is going.." Aaron says.

"We're lucky we activated you when we did, or this may not have been possible at all." She takes off Aaron's head. "Hope you don't mind."

"If you do anything to mess up my circuits I-

Jazz takes Aaron's head and pulls out two antennas from the sides. Then she takes the screwdriver and loosens the screws of his antennas. She stretches them higher, until they reach their maximum height. Finally, Jazz tightens the screws, takes her phone, and puts it on speaker.

…"Hello? Hello? Is someone there?" Cynthia asks.

Jazz smiles. "Awesome sauce! It works great."

"Jazz? Oh thank goodness! I was beginning to think your number was invalid. You know, I've never heard of a ten digit number to dial, but.." Cynthia begins.

"..Oh yeah. Sorry about that. It's kind of a new thing..Anyway, did you get a list of the Hospital's patients for the surgery?" Jazz asks.

She takes out a pen and paper.

"Yes, of course. I can't get away with taking it with me as you could have guessed. I'll just read them off to you by order of last name. There is Miss "Diana Abbey", "Bridget Cole", "Ashley Croft", our dear lady "Mary Ann Nichols", "Olivia Oliverson", "Jeanne Sherman", and "Gloria Victor"...Did I read too quickly?" Cynthia asks.

She finishes writing. "Nope, I got it. Thanks for the help. I do have some questions though. Is there really only seven? I thought you said a lot of women get this surgery."

"Ah, well..I couldn't obtain a full list since it's been a recent shift of time. You see..a few months post surgery, we are required to throw out our records of a patient- mostly for confidentiality purposes, but also to not overflow our office. Considering the process usually renders a woman unable to get..impregnated again, we simply have no reason to hold on to them…There's always shifts now.." Cynthia mumbles.

"Wait, what?" Jazz asks.

"...Recently, there's been a lot of records thrown out. I didn't want to say this earlier, but Doctor Dalles has been in charge of the disposing of these records. We haven't kept a single patient's files a day after their surgery!" Cynthia sighs. "Now this isn't such an incriminating thing, but it's just strange practice to suddenly do at the hospital since more than half these patients have deceased…...Jazz, are you still there?"

Jazz writes some notes. "...Yeah. I am. So you think Doctor Dalles is responsible?"

"We-well let's not jump to any conclusions so fast! She may be innocent. Me personally, I worry she may know more than she lets on. You have to admit it's a strange coincidence, right?" Cynthia asks.

Jazz nods. "No, no. You're definitely right to be skeptical. It's a crazy world out there filled with crazy people."

Aaron's body taps Jazz's shoulder, and she flinches at the sight of his missing head. She looks down at Aaron's head.

"Jazz, ask for their addresses so we can get a move on." Aaron whispers.

She nods. "Okay, Miss Patterson. Thanks again for your help in all this. Can you do me another favor and give me the addresses of all the patients?"

"Gladly, my partner. Are you quite sure you need all of them? There are four here that are deceased." Cynthia asks.

"Yep. I need all of them for uh,...a little analysis." Jazz says.

"Ooh! There you go again being a mysterious agent! Do you still not trust me?" Cynthia asks.

"It's not what you think..I'm just a little curious if there's a connection." Jazz says.

"Well don't leave me out of the fun. I know I can be a great adventurer! Oops, I almost forgot..the addresses." Cynthia begins.

Cynthia reads off the seven addresses of each woman, and Jazz records the addresses down in her notebook. Now equipped with the list of victims and their locations, Jazz and her crew set out to find the three living women.

After changing into the appropriate gear, the three exit the townhouse. She takes out the Eye Wander from her book bag and activates it.

"Wow, you really went all out for this thing. Is this some long mission?" Aaron asks.

Jazz enters the bumper cart, takes off Aaron's head, and reverts his body into its portable form. Roger hops in the seat next to her and straps on his seat belt.

"Sorry to do this to you again, but there wouldn't be enough space for you in here otherwise." Jazz says.

"Ugh, this cruddy thing? Man, you should have brought those nutjobs with you. At least then you'd have a vehicle fit for more than your bubble butt." Aaron says.

She glares at him. "Zip it or you're garbage….and my butt is not _that_ big..Jerkel."

Jazz places Aaron's head on the holographic screen where the Map finder is. She taps his head and his eyes glow yellow.

"There. Now you can charge up, and be less nasty." Jazz says.

She taps his nose and the screen is reflected from Aaron's eyes.

"I hope everyone's comfy because we're about to that means no bathroom breaks or redundant games of I Spy. Got it?" Jazz says, glaring at the two males.

"We're going to Olivia Oliverson's house first?" Aaron asks.

"Yes. If we're assuming the killer is following the list in order, then we can be certain that woman is next to be killed. " Jazz says.

She types in the address and begins driving away.

"Jazzy...do you think we can take on whoever this bozo killer is?" Roger asks.

She shakes her head. "L-let's not think about that now. We need to see if this lady's still alive."

"Then Let's think about this Doctor Dalles character! That girl on the phone mentioned she might know something. " Aaron asks.

She sighs. "That's what's bugging me right now. Even though she's admitted she could be a suspect, we haven't been able to find a motive! It's the one puzzle piece I need to complete this mystery and I can't find it."

"Think everything out loud then, Sherlock. What pieces of information about the case do we know?" Aaron asks.

"Let's see, uh..these broads get their uterus things taken out, and then they're ripped apart like a chihuahua in a lion's pen." Roger says.

Jazz grimaces. "Bajeebs, Roger...There's also the fact they're all women who had baby removal surgeries."

"..Why don't you ever say 'abortion' or 'uterus'? I-It's weird." Roger asks.

She gags. "Ew, because those are icky words. It's like saying 'feces' instead of 'poop' or 'boil' instead of..'big pimple'..." Jazz says.

"Hey, hey focus here! So we have women who have their uteruses removed. This is a part necessary to reproduce am I correct?" Aaron asks.

"Yeah…"Jazz says.

"Then there's the fact that before they were killed, they had abortions to get rid of their children. While I'm no expert here, I think I can say that that's a pretty frowned upon thing to do at this time period. I mean heck, even modern times hate it." Aaron says.

"Hm, I think you're on to something there, Robo-dunce." Roger says.

He nudges Jazz. "Jazzy, didn't you and Nurse Jackie find that Mary lady without a ring or something?"

"Oh yeah, we did. It was only one lady, but I bet to do a surgery like that in this time means...they're probably all unmarried." Jazz begins.

"So we got unmarried broads goin' 'round getting their babies yanked out, and then murdered viciously with them uterus things gone. So the killer.." Roger ponders.

"..-is trying to make a point about the surgery." Jazz says.

"Against them aborting their children.." Aaron says.

"...but why? The killer is a doctor. They're supposed to help people and that surgery whether you disagree with it or not, 'helped' those ladies in some way. So what's the beef against them doing this?" Jazz asks.

Aaron's eyes glow green and two loud beeps escape from his mouth. Jazz taps his head to stop the noise.

"...Guys, we're here." He says.

Jazz and Roger look up and see that they are in front of a small, cabin like abode. There is a light on, but it's very dim. Jazz grabs Aaron's head from the dashboard and exits the car with Roger. She reactivates the robot's body and puts his head back on. The three look around the area, cautiously.

"Man..I didn't think we'd get here so fast!..is it too late to go back?" Roger asks.

"Yep. I'd be worried if I were you...I hear poor Londoners love rodents as a delicacy." Aaron says.

Jazz spins Aaron's head on backwards.

"...It was a joke, kid." He mutters.

She turns to Roger and rubs his belly. "Don't worry, if things get bad I'll protect you."

"Your optimistic. I guess that medication's working out for you." Aaron says.

She glares at him. "This is no time for jokes, Aaron."

She looks around the house, closely. "It doesn't look like anyone's been here yet, or if they are, they're really good at murdering quietly."

Aaron scans the house. "Hm, well I guess you could be right with this one. I can only find one life source in that house. But if the killer is hiding around somewhere, they won't give off a strong heat signature and won't be detected by my sensors."

He gives a thumbs up. "So I'd say you got a 50/50 chance of walking into a bloodbath."

Jazz rolls her eyes. "Thanks for that boost of confidence Aaron. I don't know what I'd do without you here."

The two walk up to the door and Jazz grabs at the door knob. She presses her ear against the door.

"Huh...nothing. Okay, let's do this." She mumbles.

 _ **Knock..knock..knock!**_

There is a short delay, but eventually the door opens.


	58. Trial Against Death

A young woman appears at the door. She had brown hair wrapped in a bun and had on blood red lipstick. Her lingerie nightgown exposing her brassiere and bloomers were becoming too much for Jazz to handle.

"Bajeebs!...At least put on a full gown." Jazz thinks.

The woman taps her foot impatiently.

"Ahem. Is there a reason you're loitering about my front door?"

Jazz takes out her notebook and reads,

"Um, are you Miss Oliverson?"

The woman smirks at Aaron.

"Depends on who's asking, love." She says.

"..I'm just a little girl trying to...make use of your services?.."

Jazz looks away for a second, quite embarrassed.

"I know this is strange, but could we come in, please?"

"Hmm. I suppose I could allow it, but it'll cost you plenty." Olivia says.

Olivia opens the door, allowing Jazz and Aaron to enter.

I have to say the home was shown to be quite cozy inside, if not comforting. It was similar to a cabin you might find in the woods but instead of feeling mucky, Olivia's home was just as dainty and charming as her. Jazz and Aaron see a banged up couch by a fireplace and sit down.

Olivia stares at Aaron with a kittenish smile before sitting on his knee.

"...I know it's a bit dark in here, but I figured you could see the chair beside you." Aaron says.

Olivia giggles. "What can I say? I've felt lost without a man like you to guide my way~"

She rubs Aaron's leg and he cringes.

"...Y-you don't even know me!" Aaron tries pushing her off, but fails.

He crosses his arms, dismayed.

"Crazy chick.." He grumbles.

Jazz grimaces. "...Hey Miss Oliverson can we please talk with you?"

"Love, I'm only interested in two things: Money and narcotics. If you ain't got either, I have no desire for chatting." Olivia says.

"...Hm. Let's see if this will work." Jazz thinks.

She takes off her book bag and pulls out the golden fragment in the shape of a mouse.

"..How about this?" Jazz asks.

She places it on the coffee table in front of them.

"Just what are you talking abo-.."

Olivia looks on the table, and her jaw drops. She jumps off of Aaron, snatches the gold and carefully looks it over.

"My god..This is..How..?" She looks suspiciously at Jazz. "Where on heavens did you obtain this, child?"

"..I have my sources." Jazz says.

Aaron nudges Jazz. "Are you suddenly with the CIA now?" He whispers.

Olivia smiles. "You must indeed want a friendly "conversation", but I don't perform my services to young ones." She turns to Aaron. "Your friend over there, however is welcome."

Aaron holds his hands up in protest. "Whoa there, Nelly! I'm not interested."

"..Yeah. We are here mostly for a talk. Specifically, information...that is if you have any." Jazz says.

Olivia frowns. "Oh? Is that all?..Well..I suppose." She tucks the gold fragment in her brassiere. "Please allow me to change into something..more appropriate."

She exits the room, shortly.

Aaron delivers a robotic groan. "Ugh! If there was a time to shut my systems off, this would be it."

He tugs at Jazz's arm. "And just what are we accomplishing here, kid?"

"Yeah, we never talk about what we're gonna do in these plans…" Roger says.

"It's just what I said. We're going to have a talk with her. We'll ask some questions about the other women on this list, and if we wait long enough.." Jazz begins.

"..Jack the Ripper could show up." Aaron finishes.

Roger smiles. "Ooh! I'm diggin' that. It's smart."

"I don't think so. If the killer does show up, what are we gonna do? I thought you didn't want to interfere with this event?" Aaron asks.

Jazz looks down. "..I'm still working on that."

"Mm..improv. How clever." Aaron mutters.

She glares at him.

"Hey, hey. Who's to say we can't fight back?" Roger asks.

"..What are you talking about, roadkill?" Aaron asks.

"I'm saying, what's the problem if we fight the killer? It's not going to ruin history if we stop the guy. It'll just be messed up if we reveal to everyone WHO they are." Roger says.

Jazz gasps. "Holy cheese..Roger, you're a genius."

She kisses him on the nose.

"Hehe..well, I guess." Roger mumbles.

Aaron shakes his head. "..I doubt that..but what else are we gonna do that's productive?"

Olivia returns with a tray of tea. She is dressed this time in a long robe.

"Apologies if I kept you both waiting long, but I rarely have actual guests." She chuckles. "I nearly forgot where I kept extra cups."

She places the tray down on the coffee table and sits down in her rocking chair.

Jazz takes out her notebook and flips to the list of names.

"Let the waiting game begin." She thinks.

* * *

"So, Miss Oliverson do you know anything about Mary Anne Nichols?" Aaron asks.

Olivia grimaces. "Um..perhaps?"

She pours more milk in her tea.

"..You have any thoughts on the case. Or Jack the Ripper possibly?" Jazz asks.

Olivia looks down. "..It would be hard to wrap my mind around it. It's unpleasant."

"Could you please try? We've been curious since the discovery of her body in London." Jazz says.

"Why ask me? I'm sure witnesses could tell you more than I." Olivia says.

She takes a long sip.

"It's a hunch, but we think there's a connection you have with them." Jazz says.

Olivia scoffs. "And what makes you believe that?"

Jazz looks over the list. "..We understand that Miss Nichols was into the same..occupation.."

Olivia rolls her eyes. "So since one lady happened to be a whore, I should know all about her?"

... **Awkward silence.**

Jazz looks away. "...I guess when you put it like that..sorry." She mutters.

Aaron glares at her. "What if we knew she shared the same clients as you? It's such a coincidence she's dead and you're still out and about."

"She didn't!" Olivia shouts.

…. **There is another short silence.**

She clears her throat. "...She did not."

Jazz and Aaron glance at each other.

Olivia looks down and sighs.

"..You do know her then." Jazz says.

"We're weren't bloody mates or anything! My god! You act as if I need to know everything about these rotten sluts turning up. Well yes, I read the news, and I have heard the rumors. Means utter rubbish to me." Olivia rants.

Jazz makes a note on the page.

Olivia glares at the two. "...You need to leave."

"But-

"No. I've tried being civil..but now I remember why I don't have guests." Olivia says.

She rises from her chair, and points to the door. "Get the hell out."

Jazz is still looking over the list. "Darn. We barely got anything from this..and the killer still hasn't shown up for the past hour." She thinks.

Olivia storms in front of Jazz and snatches the list from her.

"And just what the hell are you two writing about? You awful lot!" She yells.

Aaron shakes his head. "Oh great."

"What's all this now? Who the hell gave you my personal information?!" Olivia shouts.

She quickly takes out a switchblade knife from her pocket and waves it around.

Jazz and Aaron glance at each other again.

"I don't want to say, "I told you so," but.." Aaron says.

"Just who are you two?!" Olivia screams.

"..You need to listen to us if you want to stay alive Miss Oliverson. Jack the Ripper is after you and those two other ladies on this list. The first four are dead. They were his victims!" Jazz says.

"Quit acting crazy and put down the knife, you nutjob." Aaron says.

Olivia begins quivering. As her hands tremble, the knife falls to the floor. She reaches for her stomach, overwhelmed with anxiety.

"...I..how do you know this?" She asks.

Jazz holds her hand out, and Olivia gives her back the notebook. She turns to a page covered in notes and highlights. Olivia bends down to read the page.

"This might be hard to believe, but I've been trying to find information on Jack the Ripper. I became interested in it when I walked down Baker St one night and found a woman's dead body slashed and sliced all over." Jazz begins.

"Alright, you discovered me...wait, how did you do that?" Olivia asks.

"You've heard of a doctor named Angelina Dalles?" Jazz asks.

Olivia clutches her stomach again.

"...She was my doctor for um,...no, never mind..." She mumbles.

"It's okay. We know. Doctor Dalles has done..surgeries for you and the other women on this list." Jazz says.

"We believe that's a possible connection." Aaron says.

"..You and these two other women are the only ones alive on this list. We don't know when, but we expect the killer to come here." Jazz says.

"If you have figured out this much, why haven't you gone to the authorities?" Olivia asks.

"...This may all still be a coincidence." Jazz says.

"And it could be catastrophic to reveal the identity of Jack the Ripper. The future could change terribly." She thinks.

Jazz puts away the notebook.

"But..even if we did give them the evidence, we don't have an idea of who the murderer is. The only suspect is Doctor Dalles since all the women were patients of hers." Jazz says.

Olivia rubs her head. "So it's conjecture at this point? Well that's oddly..comforting."

"I'm gonna lay it out like this, lady. It's a guess, but a fair assumption to make." Aaron says.

"Best case scenario is we were wrong and you had nothing to worry about. Worse case, the killer comes and we all die." Jazz says.

"Are you interested or would you rather be sliced like a Christmas ham?" Aaron asks.

Olivia bites her nail. "You've gone and worried me, and expect me to commit to some ridiculous ultimatum? Based on a hypothetical at that?"

Jazz pulls out her droid and looks at the time. It reads, "10:41 p.m."

Aaron looks at the time. "It's been over an hour and a half?" He whispers.

"...Looks like it. I don't know how long we can stay here. Mr. Phantomhive and his friends might be on their way back from the ball." Jazz whispers.

"Oh, Miss Night Owl has a curfew? How cute." Aaron whispers.

She shoves him. "I'm serious here. If them or Mr. and Missus Sutcliff see I'm not there, my cover is blown."

"...Mr. and Missus?" Aaron asks.

She shrugs.

Jazz and Aaron rise from their seats and try hurrying out of the house.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Olivia asks.

Jazz turns around and blankly stares at Olivia.

"..Uh..well, you see.."

Aaron pats Jazz on the head. "My uh..my niece and I need to get back home. It's way past her bedtime. Hehe."

"W-What?! You'd just leave me here, terrified and alone?" Olivia asks.

"I'm sure you'll be fine...probably." Aaron says.

Jazz and Aaron rush out the door.

Olivia peers at them from her front window.

"I-I can't believe this!" She thinks.

The two get ready to go back to the Eye Wander but they immediately see Grell trying to lean against the vehicle. She appears to be in her true form now. Jazz tenses up and remains in front of Olivia's house.

Grell looks up and grins at the two. "Oh, hello there Young Jazmine. It's a fine night for casual strolling, isn't it? Though, I thought I'd find you in bed.."

"….Why do you look like that?" Jazz asks.

"Hmph, I don't know. I think it's kinda an improvement." Aaron says.

"How so?" She asks.

"Well, he looked pretty boring before. At least now he looks distinguishable." Aaron says.

Grell gasps and runs over to Aaron. She thoroughly looks him up and down.

"Eh? You're not human...or mortal for that matter." Grell grins. "Are you a god of sorts?" She asks.

Aaron scans Grell with his eyes, frightening the Reaper.

"I ask the same thing about you, creature."

Aaron taps Jazz. "Say, what type of supernatural is this goof?"

Grell glares at him. "Um, y'know I'm standing right here."

"They are a Reaper or Death God basically. An immortal being who reaps the souls of the dead and collects the cinematic records of a dead person's life for review..and other things if a person is special enough, I guess. Is that right?" Jazz asks.

Grell chuckles and plays with a lock of their hair.

"Nice, but you forgot a few important things, my dear."

She suddenly takes out her chainsaw and starts it. Jazz and Aaron stand back closer to the front of the house.

"I'm also a deadly force to be reckoned with. Death Scythes are a signature mark of a Reaper and for someone as deadly as moi, this one is EXQUISITE." Grell says.

She revs up her chainsaw and begins moving closer towards the two.

Grell instantly appears next to Aaron and poses affectionately against him.

"So, you think I'm distinguishable, hm? How about we get to know each other better?" She asks.

Aaron groans and tries pushing Grell off, but he fails miserably. The Reaper chuckles at his feeble attempts and returns her attention to Jazz.

She glares at her. "Reaper..what are you doing here?"

"Hehe. You know why I'm here, Jazmine. I'm just deciding whether or not it's worth the fuss." Grell says.

"...So it is you." Jazz says.

"Ho, ho, look at you! Someone finally hatched a brain." Grell laughs.

She moves in front of Jazz holding the chainsaw just inches away from her nose.

"I've been pondering for a while now whether you're claims earlier were valid." Grell begins.

"...Did you ever contact your partner?" Jazz asks.

Grell snorts. "Even I wouldn't probe my handsome Willy about your rubbish rambling of a story. It's nonsensical. Time travel? Reapers needing a mortal child's assistance? Pssh! I feel idiotic for actually listening to it." Grell says.

Jazz glares at her. "..You're pointlessly cruel."

"Enough gab, child. I'm through being nice. I have a job to do. If you don't want to end up like that whore in there, you'll be smart and return home. Like a good girl." Grell says.

Jazz takes out her lollipop and tears off the wrapper.

"A human skull candy? How appropriate. Why don't you save another for me when I'm through hacking down this peasant." Grell says with a chuckle.

She shoves Jazz out of the way, and reaches for the door handle of Olivia's home.

 **BAM**!

Grell is flung straight through the wooden door, into the fireplace; she drops his chainsaw. She yells as the flames engulf her face and upper body. Olivia screams and runs outside.

She clings onto Aaron's arm. "My god! He-just..You just-"

Jazz holds her sledgehammer over her shoulder and stares at Olivia's now broken front door.

"Let's get this pansy, Jazzy." Roger says.

"Ahh! Oh my heavens! Did that thing just talk?" Olivia yells.

Jazz dashes inside ready to attack.

"Ahh!" Grell yells.

She rolls around on the floor to stop the flames. Jazz takes the opportunity to strike Grell's back with her hammer. **Jump** , **Swing** and **SLAM**!

She slams Grell against the rotting wooden floor!

The flames finally cease, but Grell is still stunned by the blow. Jazz turns Grell''s body over and kicks her in the face.

She growls. "You need to learn your place, brat!"

Grell grabs Jazz by her leg and flings her at a bookcase. She crashes against it harshly; the stands holding the books break in half. Roger jumps off from her shoulder and scurries towards Grell.

The Reaper regains her strength and rises from the floor to dust herself off. Roger suddenly leaps onto the Reaper's face!

 **SCRATCH**!...

 **RIP**!...

 **SLICE**!...

"Ah! Filthy rat!" Grell yells.

He goes to town on the Reaper's face!

Grell runs to around to shake Roger off, but she slips on her chainsaw, and falls right on top of it. It cuts deeply into her stomach...Ouch.

"...No..no..no.." Grell loses her voice.

She moans in pain, and reaches for her bleeding stomach.

….Another bead on Jazz's bracelet begins to glow. It vibrates.

Roger returns to Jazz's side; he pushes some books and fragments of wood off of her body.

"..Heya, Jazzy. You good?" He asks.

Jazz pats his head and nods.

As she rises, her leg twitches and she winces.

"Aw geez, what's wrong?" Roger panics.

Jazz looks down her leg and pulls up her pants leg.

It appeared her ankle was bruised from the toss.

"..It's okay. It'll heal itself later."

"No way, Angel. I already saw what happens when your wounds don't heal up right. We oughta get this fixed now!" Roger says.

He scurries back over to Grell and rips off a piece of his coat. The racoons returns and wraps the cloth tightly around Jazz's ankle.

"Roger, I had a gash before. This is different. It's just a little bruise." Jazz says.

"No-sir-re-bob! Remember what Mrs. Magoo said." Roger says.

She sighs. "...Sure."

Jazz grabs her hammer and exits the house.

She looks over at Grell before closing the door.

"..I think I'm going to regret this." She thinks.

Aaron and Olivia hurry over to Jazz. They notice her limping.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Are you alright, love?" Olivia asks.

Jazz stretches her arms out and rubs her right arm. she finally notices the vibration on her arm and flinches.

"What? What is it?" Aaron asks.

"Not now. Let's just get her out of here, and check on the others." Jazz says.

"How are we doing this? We don't have a horse n' carriage."

Aaron points at the Eye Wander. "And that little car of yours can only fit someone kid sized."

Jazz looks around and sees some wooden wheelbarrows lying around. She looks back at the Eye Wander and strokes her chin.

"Aaron, do you have any rope on you?" Jazz asks.

"No. Do I look like a serial killer to you?" Aaron looks at Olivia. "On second thought, don't answer that."

"Um excuse me, girl. I.." Olivia pulls out a thin rope from her hair, causing her bun to fall.

"I actually have some on me." She says.

"..You just use rope to keep it up? Never heard of a rubber band, lady?" Aaron asks.

"Excuse me. You never know when you might need to strangle someone on the job,..or nasty strangers looking to kill you at your home." Olivia says.

She stares at her now ruined house.

Jazz takes the rope and ties it around her Eye Wander. She ties the other ends to the handles of the wheelbarrow.

"Oh, I see now. You're gonna get us a ride using your little car. Nice." Aaron says.

He holds up his hand. Jazz gets ready to high five him, but he immediately moves his hand.

"Too slow." He chuckles.

She glares at him. "Thanks for the encouragement, pal."

Aaron and Olivia both climb into the wheelbarrow. Jazz and Roger enter the Eye Wander and she starts up the vehicle. Once everyone is settled, she takes off.

"Hey, so where we headed next, Angel?" Roger asks.

"...There's only two people I could go to..." Jazz says.


	59. Odd Sight in Town

"I reckoned that, but where are we gonna keep these broads after we find them?" Roger whispers.

"That's what I mean. There's only two people I know that could help."

Jazz takes a deep breath and thinks deeply. "Miss Patterson could help. But..she's stashing Joseph at her place as we speak. If I bring three women to her and expect her to hide them, she'll have a heart attack."

"Option number 2 then?" Roger whispers.

"Undertaker. It might be a good idea to take them there. It's the last place that reaper would expect to find them." Jazz says.

"But would that loony guy want to hide them?"

Aaron sighs. "Guys we gotta make a decision soon because if we're gonna get to this Jeanne lady, we need to have a plan ready to follow."

"..Wait, wait. Do you mean Jeanne? As in Jeanne Sherman?" Olivia asks.

Jazz, Aaron, and Roger all turn to Olivia.

"You uh..know her?" Aaron asks.

Olivia nods. "It's really hard to forget a girl you've been around since childhood." She chuckles.

"Despite my attempts to get away from her, Jeanne always seems to come back into my life...Curse that wench."

"Hm, sounds like you aren't such 'mates' anymore." Aaron says.

"Oh, no well I exaggerate a little. Jeanne has an annoying habit of getting herself and others into trouble. That's all." Olivia says.

Jazz takes her notebook, and looks at the list of girls. She passes it to Olivia.

"I have a few things to ask, but could you tell me if Miss Sherman is far from here?" Jazz asks.

Olivia glances at the address written down for Jeanne and looks around the area.

"Ah, well I'm afraid she is. I believe she is a few blocks away from the countryside, but she fancies a nearby hotel to 'peruse for customers'." Olivia says, smirking.

Jazz blushes. "Uh….okay."

Aaron grimaces and pats Jazz's head.

"Keep your mind on driving, kid." Aaron looks at Olivia.

"If she's in the city at this time, where do you think she'd be huh?" He asks.

Olivia ponders for a moment. "Perhaps the corner of Montagu and Gloucester Place? That spot is usually riddled with pub drinkers, and it's adjacent to another hotel, so Jeanne may have taken business there."

Jazz starts entering the street names and begins traveling in that direction.

Olivia taps her shoulder.

"Um, what is that?" Olivia asks, pointing to the holographic screen.

Jazz rubs the back of her neck. "..It's something to help us get there quicker...nothing to worry about. Nothing at all."

"Hm..so, what else did you want to ask me?" Olivia asks.

"Well, uh..if you could look at all the addresses of the women on there, that would be super helpful." Jazz says.

Olivia looks at the list again. "Why? What is it I need to see?"

"I'm trying to understand if there is a connection to the locations listed there." Jazz says.

"But a supernatural's involved in this. Any pattern you might find means nothing since the murder was done by a magical freak..thing." Aaron says.

"Pardon, a supernatural?" Olivia asks.

"That Red Headed Reaper" He says.

"Grell probably has been killing people for a while now, and those seven are not the entire list of victims. For all we know, not every patient was killed, and for that reason we have to be open to the idea that there is a pattern happening." Jazz says.

"Uh, 'patient'?" Olivia asks.

"Of Doctor Dalles." Jazz says.

Olivia nods her head and looks over the list again. Jazz finally reaches the corner of Montagu and Gloucester, but she and her group are not alone. A young woman with short ebony black hair was cowering as a tall, man was cornering her in an alley.

"Please, just please..I'll go away, just don't-" The woman shrieks as she breaks the heel of her shoe.

"Blast it, that was my last good one.." She mumbles.

"Hey!" Jazz yells.

The man turns around to face Jazz and her group. He was wearing a long brown trench coat, a green scarf covering his mouth, and a Newsboy cap. Despite his attempts to hide his appearance through dull, drab clothing, his hair and eyes exposed his features. He had beautiful light colored eyes with long eyelashes.

The woman notices Jazz, Aaron, and Olivia and gasps.

"What the bloody hell is she doing here?" The woman mumbles.

Jazz jumps out of the car and takes out her hammer.

The man chuckles.

She glares at him. "Oh great. Another sociopath." Jazz thinks.

The woman takes off her shoes and starts backing away from the man.

"You think harassing girls is funny?" Jazz asks.

The man says nothing and turns his attention back to woman, but she chucks both her shoes at him. She attempts to run past him and towards Olivia, but he yanks her back by the arm.

"Ah! No!" She screams.

"Let her go!" Jazz says.

She leaps into the air, and kicks the man in the head. Her kick causes the man to slam against a brick wall. The woman hugs Jazz, and hops into the wheelbarrow. She clutches onto Olivia's waist, much to her annoyance. Jazz takes her hammer and thrashes the man once more.

He, however merely laughs at her and stands back up, unfazed.

"What the?! How?" She thinks.

Jazz is grabbed by him and he begins dancing with her.

"Stop it, you freak! What game is he playing?" She thinks.

Jazz tries to break away from him, but he clasps her hands and sends a white current of energy through them. The energy is too powerful! She slides backwards and lands in a garbage can. The man tips his hat and disappears into the darkness, leaving a trail of dust.

Aaron helps Jazz out of the trash can; she violently shakes.

"You still functional?" Aaron asks.

"..N-no. I-I have no idea what he…"

Jazz obsessively looks at her hands. She wipes her head, noticing the sweat that has developed on her forehead.

"..what he did to me.." She says.

Aaron helps her into the Eye Wander and rubs her back.

"..I-I be fine..I hope." Jazz mutters.

She turns her attention to Olivia and the woman.

"..Miss Sherman I'm assuming?" Jazz asks.

"Yeah it's her alright.." Olivia tugs at Jeanne's hair. "Oblivious as usual."

"Why, you! How was I supposed to know the bloke would lose his mind like that?" Jeanne asks.

"You see that girl over there?" Olivia asks, pointing to Jazz.

"Well she just saved your life. How about a show of gratitude, hm?"

Jeanne scoffs. "I hugged the dear girl! That's quite a show if I say so myself."

Olivia playfully pushes Jeanne away and looks at Jazz.

"Thank you for saving my silly companion here, love." Olivia says, smiling.

"Silly? Me? You're the nut walking around in your bloomers!" Jeanne grins. "Or did she catch you on your little 'round a bouts' of town?"

"Uh..you're both welcome?.." Jazz rubs her arm again. "My name's Jazz by the way." Jazz says.

"So my savior is a punk little toddler?..Pardon if this comes out unseemly, but are you a goblin of sorts?" Jeanne asks.

Olivia smacks Jeanne on her thigh. "Jeanne!"

"What? It's plausible! What normal person goes around with a giant hammer, thwacking away at blokes?" Jeanne asks.

Jazz rolls her eyes. Aaron gets back into the wheelbarrow and sits as far away from the two women as possible. They start to bicker more and more.

"Um, excuse me.." Jazz says.

They continue to bicker.

"Excuse me.." Jazz says, louder.

More bickering.

Aaron takes out a megaphone from his chest and speak into it.

"HEY LADIES!"

The two ladies stop yelling and cover their ears.

"Sorry to interrupt your amazing conversation, but could either of you tell us where Miss Gloria Victor might be?" Jazz says.

Jeanne starts snickering and suddenly guffaws.

"...Well?" Jazz says.

"What in the world do you want with her?" Jeanne asks.

Olivia crosses her legs. "She's only 'good' enough for upper class trash and the like. To ask where she is..well that's absurd."

"Why?" Aaron asks.

"Because it's not where she is, it's who's she's with. The bitch doesn't know how to bloody pace herself, and now she's garnered a title." Jeanne says.

"A..title?" Jazz thinks.

Olivia puts her hand on her shoulder.

"She's a popular tart exclusive to the rich. Or perhaps, she'd prefer the term 'cocotte', hehe."

"Ah...I see. Well I guess that's helpful. Too bad, I don't know any rich guys who..- Wait a second." Jazz thinks.

Jeanne starts chortling while Olivia just shakes her head.

Aaron sighs and looks over at Jazz.

"What's going on in that brain of yours, kid?" He asks.

"I'm thinking..is it possible, she'd be invited to balls?" Jazz asks.

Olivia snorts. "Oh what, you believe we're below society to the extent that we can't attend festivities?"

"..No. I remembered that this Viscount Druitt man is hosting a ball right now, and I was curious if Miss Victor would be invited." Jazz says.

"Haha, you're in luck! This harlot's practically his personal call girl. Just last week, I read this scandal in the papers about those two lot- Behind a rubbish bin, he was pleasuring-

Olivia places her hand over Jeanne's mouth and smiles at Jazz.

"I believe that's enough to convince her, darling."

Jazz nods, and puts in the Viscount Druitt's information. She immediately pulls off, heading for the Viscount's ball.


	60. Crashing Balls is Disastrous, You Know?

The whole group finally arrives at the manor of Viscount Druitt. It was a grand and prestigious estate. The place definitely spoke to the great wealth of Mr. Aleister Chambers. However, it doesn't take a genius to see that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover. If Ciel and his associates suspected Mr. Chambers to be a killer, his home may not have been so grand.

The group is standing outside the manor's entrance gazing at the outer arches.

"...Holy mackerel. This is..enormous!" Aaron says.

"Isn't it so? Such an imposing sight for commoners and nobles alike…" Jeanne begins.

 **Pause.**

"...It makes me retch."

Olivia is shaking her head. "This is no time to be envious."

Jazz notices some guests are entering the manor. They seem overjoyed, and their enthusiasm doesn't go unheard.

A woman dressed fancily giggles. "Oh boy, isn't this fortunate? My very first ball with a celebrity!"

Her partner smiles. "Of course it shouldn't be our last. After tonight, we shall bask in the glory of being noticed. It is a delightful outcome."

The two carry on inside.

"...Hm. I guess this Viscount is a big deal. The title is below that of an Earl, but this man has such so much fame it doesn't matter." Jazz thinks.

She turns to Olivia. "You said that Miss Victor is Viscount Druitt's favorite.."lady friend". If she is, where would they, um..meet?"

Olivia shrugs. " It's not like I'm her shadow or anything! I'd personally never meet with a client at a public event...but Gloria does not tie to any boundaries a normal woman would."

"Meaning...she's strange?" Jazz asks.

"No, no. That's not it. She's simply-

"Flamboyant! That wench thinks she can upstage the stars above I swear." Jeanne says.

Jazz nods. "Mm. So if she's here, she'd make a scene. Good to know." She thinks.

Aaron looks inside the manor through a window. He begins scanning the guests from a distance.

"Heya, you got a plan cooking in that brain of yours or what?" Roger whispers.

Jazz points to the manor. "I'm starting to. There's only a few approaches we can take to get to Miss Victor."

Aaron returns his attention to the group.

"...We need to be..-

"Inconspicuous?" Roger whispers.

Jazz pets his head. "Exactly."

"Exactly what?" Jeanne asks.

Aaron looks over everyone's outfits.

"Our wardrobe needs to be adjusted." He says.

"By jove, he's correct! I look ready for bed, not fit for a ball at all." Olivia points to Jeanne. "And you're about ready to take on a gentleman caller."

Jeanne shoves Olivia. "Oh hush! At the very least I would have an easier time blending in. You always have to be distinct. Never fall in with a crowd, always be the lone madame. How boring!"

"...What in the blazes are you talking about?" Olivia asks.

Jazz sighs. "How did those two ever get along?" She thinks.

As another guest arrives, the group shuffles out of the way. Another couple was making their way inside. Their outfits appeared to be themed. They also carried with them a violin and bass.

"Hm..well that's weird. Is it normal to dress that way for a ball?" Jazz thinks.

Aaron pats Jazz's shoulder. "You see those two?"

"..Yeah. They look kinda funny." She says.

"Well from what I saw inside, there's some special dress code going on. Guests dress in pastels, servants in black, and entertainers in purple." He says.

"That's….ugly." Jazz says.

Aaron taps her head. "No. Think about it. If we follow a certain dress code, we can get in unnoticed."

"Mm...I think I like where this is going." Roger whispers.

Jazz nods. "I get it, but what can we do? It would be hard to find the right outfit out of nowhere."

Aaron points to his chest. "Lucky for us, I have something to make that less of a factor."

Jazz strokes her chin. "..Alright. I like this."

….

"I cannot believe we are doing this. How idiotic!" Jeanne shouts.

The group is standing outside a window that leads to the 1st floor bathroom.

Jeanne stomps her foot. "I demand we commit to a different plan! This is completely illogical!"

"Shh!" Everyone says.

Aaron opens the window and climbs inside.

"Is this certainly the ONLY way?" Jeanne asks.

Jazz climbs inside and looks around the room.

"..Hey, you coming in or what?" Aaron asks.

Olivia rolls her eyes. "You haven't given me much of a choice, love."

She smiles. "Perhaps a strong gentlemen like yourself could help me up?"

Aaron groans and helps Olivia inside. She "accidentally" falls onto his chest.

"Liv, you cannot be so foolish as to-

"Oh would you quiet down and come on already?" Olivia says.

Jeanne glares at her. "Hmph!"

She reluctantly climbs inside and shoves Aaron away.

Jazz reaches inside Aaron's chest and pulls out a diamond shaped device. It has numerous small holes on it and they each flash a different color: blue, yellow, and red.

"I can't believe you swiped this. When would you even use this?" Jazz asks.

She takes a USB from inside the device and plugs it into her omni telecommunications droid.

"If you haven't noticed, I don't wear clothes! So I doubt you needed it more than me." He says.

"Bots like you were designed with the illusion of being clothed. No one should ask if you are wearing anything.

"..The key word there is "should"." He says.

Jeanne and Olivia are disturbed.

"Excuse me, what are you two discussing?" Olivia asks.

Jazz's droid makes a chime and she nods approvingly.

"Nothing. We need to get a few things working before we execute our plan." Aaron says.

Jeanne groans. "So remind me, what is this mindless scheme?"

Jazz looks away from her droid. "It's simple. To find Miss Victor, we have to disguise ourselves. The disguise in this case will be our "cover" and should allow us to move freely about the ball."

"And what is our "cover"?" Olivia asks.

Aaron holds up the diamond shaped device.

"...Not much cover I see." Jeanne asks.

Olivia frowns. "...What is the function of this contraption?"

Jazz taps her droid's screen and…-

 **WHOOSH!**

Suddenly a bright light flashes from the diamond. The group discover their clothes have been altered. They now have on swan costumes...except Roger.

"Hey!" He thinks.

Olivia and Jeanne shudder. "...Wh-w-w-what was t-that?!" They ask.

Jazz points to the diamond. "I give you, the Indefinite Garb Generation Tool. It's a sensitive invention, but the applications the tool can be applied to are worth the risk. It's a genius idea for people who need special wear for a situation."

Jeanne grins. "..Hold on..This rhombus mechanism produces..clothing?"

"..Yeah." Jazz says.

Jeanne giggles. She twirls around in her swan costume, but eventually her mind tunes into the fact that she's dressed as a giant bird.

"..Could I have a more flattering outfit?" She asks.

Olivia puts a hand on her hip. "It's not surprising you'd immediately abuse such a luxury."

"Shut up...A girl has certain needs. Not that you'd care. You prefer rags to rich textiles." Jeanne says.

Aaron looks at Jazz's phone and points at the screen. "Is that the only setting available?"

"No. Unless you want to look like a clown or a sunflower, there isn't a better option. I told you and Shawna this was a work in progress." Jazz says.

"Well how long does it take to configure more outfits to a darn clothes app?" He asks.

"….It's more complicated than that."

"Pfft! Right.." He says.

"Hey how come I don't get an outfit?" Roger whispers.

"The Garb tool was not configured to recognize and clothe creatures with a non human skeleton. So you'll have to sit this one out."

Roger groans. "But I gotta have something to do…"

Aaron stuff's Jazz's bag into her costume.

"Uh, hello?..." Roger asks.

Jazz picks him up and pets him.

"Anyway, what we have on now should be good enough. Best of all, the swan suit comes with a mask."

She flips the head of the swan mask up and down.

"Our identity is safe and all we have to do is pretend to be performers." Jazz says.

"Performing? Ah, that sounds fantastic!" Jeanne says.

Olivia gasps. "And what shall we be performing?! You realize we are escorts, not actors, don't you?"

Aaron does a goofy sway. He bumps into the girls as he sways to opposite sides.

"Oof! Stop it!" Jeanne says.

Olivia elbows Aaron. "What are you accomplishing by doing this?"

Jazz cracks open the door and takes a peek outside. The hallway is very dark, but the light further down leads into the gathering area. The event was already 2 hours in, but guests remained lively as ever. In fact, more guests seemed to be coming in fashionably late!

She walks outside the bathroom and sets Roger down.

"How about you sneak around and see if you find anything...strange. We can meet back up outside." Jazz says.

Roger smacks his teeth. "Are you kidding? That sounds like I'm gonna miss out on the action!"

"What? Definitely not. Think about it as your own personal adventure."

"Angel..if it were my adventure, I'd hang by the snack table."

She points down the opposite hall. "Roger, please. You never know what you might find."

He sighs. "Booooorrrinnnggg."

The raccoon scurries away.

Jazz motions for the group to follow.

Olivia tap Jazz's shoulder.

She turns around. "Yes?"

"Love, I'm not too fond of this idea. What are we meant to perform?" Olivia asks.

Jeanne steps between the two and leans on Olivia's shoulder.

"Liv, you must not worry about this trivial thing! Remember in our youth?...That time on stage. The "awes" and "hoo-rahs" that echoed our way. The light shining on our clean, round faces?..I remember Romeo and Juliet like it was yesterday." She sighs, happily.

"...That's queer. Because I distinctly remember us being thrown out after you groped "Romeo" during auditions...and I froze up." Olivia says.

Jazz frowns. "Bajeebs! She wasn't kidding when she said that lady is a trouble maker." She thinks.

Olivia lets out a big sigh.

Jazz holds up her droid. "I have a little plan to entertain the guests. It won't take much effort on your part, I swear. Just stand and we'll give you your cue."

Olivia lets out a deep breath and hugs Jeanne.

"I wish only the greatest of luck to come our way." She says.

And with that, they were off!

One by one, the group skipped out onto the ballroom. The four were not improv experts, but I suppose that's why it's called "improv" and not "planned".

The crowd of guests bring their attention to the four. In particular, a boy in a violet blazer stands from the rest of the crowd and points at the four.

"Oh my! What is this buffoonery?" He exclaims.

Jazz passes Aaron the droid.

"..So what is your idea?" He asks.

"Check the tunes list. Then choose the third track." She says.

Aaron does just that and sticks the device in his mouth. Suddenly music is blaring from him, and carries volume throughout the room. The song is….The Chicken Dance!

 _ **Na na na na na na na,**_

 _ **Na na na na na na na,**_

 _ **Na na na na na na na!**_

 _ **CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!**_


End file.
